LIBRARY 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

SANTA  BARBARA 


PRESENTED  BY 

MR.    RAYMOND  ACEVEDO 


UCSB  LIBRARY 


THE  DUKE  OF  ALVA  DEPOSES   MARGARET   OF  PARMA 

Holland 


tffiorll's  Best  l&istotteB 


HOLLAND 

THE   HISTORY  OF 

THE      NETHERLANDS 

BY 

THOMAS    COLLEY    GRATTAN 

WITH  A  SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTER  OF  RECENT  EVENTS 

BY    JULIAN    HAWTHORNE 


With  Frontispiece 


NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 
THE  CO-OPERATIVE  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY 


HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 


Holland. — i 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    I 

FROM  THE  INVASION  OF    THE  NETHERLANDS  BY  THE  ROMANS  TO  THE 
INVASION  BY  THE  SALIAN  FRANKS 

B.C.  50— A.D.  850 

Extent  of  the  Kingdom — Description  of  the  People — Ancient  State 
of  the  Low  Countries — Of  the  High  Grounds — Contrasted  with 
the  present  Aspect  of  the  Country — Expedition  of  Julius  Caesar 
—  The  Belgse  —  The  Menapians  —  Batavians  —  Distinguished 
among  the  Auxiliaries  of  Rome — Decrease  of  national  Feeling 
in  Part  of  the  Country — Steady  Patriotism  of  the  Prisons  and 
Menapians — Commencement  of  Civilization — Early  Formation 
of  the  Dikes — Degeneracy  of  those  who  became  united  to  the 
Romans— Invasion  of  the  Netherlands  by  the  Salian  Franks  .  ,  17 

CHAPTER    II 

FROM    THE    SETTLEMENT    OF    THE    FRANKS    TO    THE    SUBJUGATION   OF 
FKIESLAND  BY  THE  FRENCH 

A.D.  250—800 

Character  of  the  Franks — The  Saxon  Tribes — Destruction  of  the  Sali- 
ans  by  a  Saxon  Tribe — Julian  the  Apostate — Victories  of  Clovis 
in  Gaul — Contrast  between  the  Low  Countries  and  the  Provinces 
of  France — State  of  Friesland — Charles  Martell — Friesland  con- 
verted to  Christianity — Finally  subdued  by  France 27 

CHAPTER    III 

FROM    THE    CONQUEST    OF    FRIESLAND    TO    THE     FORMATION    OF 

HOLLAND 

A.D.  800—1000 

Commencement  of  the  Feudal  System  in  the  Highlands — Flourish- 
ing State  of  the  Low  Countries — Counts  of  the  Empire — For- 

(31 


4  CONTENTS 

mation  of  the  Gilden  or  Trades — Establishment  of  popular 
Privileges  in  Friesland — In  what  they  consisted — Growth  of 
Ecclesiastical  Power — Baldwin  of  Flanders — Created  Count — 
Appearance  of  the  Normans — They  ravage  the  Netherlands — 
Their  Destruction,  and  final  Disappearance — Division  of  the 
Empire  into  Higher  and  Lower  Lorraine— Establishment  of  the 
Counts  of  Lorraine  and  Hainault — Increasing  Power  of  the  Bish- 
ops of  Liege  and  Utrecht — Their  Jealousy  of  the  Counts  ;  who 
resist  their  Encroachments 84 

CHAPTER    IV 

FROM  THE  FORMATION  OF  HOLLAND  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  LOUIS 

DE    MALE 

A.D.  1018-1384 

Origin  of  Holland — Its  first  Count — Aggrandizement  of  Flanders — 
Its  growing  Commerce — Fisheries — Manufactures — Formation 
of  the  County  of  Guelders,  and  of  Brabant — State  of  Friesland 
— State  of  the  Provinces — The  Crusades — Their  good  Effects  on 
the  State  of  the  Netherlands — Decline  of  the  Feudal  Power,  and 
Growth  of  the  Influence  of  the  Towns — Great  Prosperity  of  the 
Country — The  Flemings  take  up  Arms  against  the  French — 
Drive  them  out  of  Bruges,  and  defeat  them  in  the  Battle  of 
Courtrai — Popular  Success  in  Brabant — Its  Confederation  with 
Flanders — Rebellion  of  Bruges  againt  the  Count,  and  of  Ghent 
under  James  d'Artaveldt  —  His  Alliance  with  England — His 
Power,  and  Death — Independence  of  Flanders — Battle  of  Roos- 
beke — Philip  the  Bold,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  obtains  the  Sover- 
eignty of  Flanders 44. 

CHAPTER   V 

FROM    THE    SUCCESSION    OF    PHILIP    THE    BOLD    TO    THE    COUNTY    OF 
FLANDERS  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  PHILIP  THE  FAIR 

A.D.  1384—1506 

Philip  succeeds  to  the  Inheritance  of  Brabant — Makes  War  on  Eng- 
land as  a  French  Prince,  Flanders  remaining  neuter — Power  of 
the  Houses  of  Burgundy  and  Bavaria,  and  Decline  of  Public 
Liberty — Union  of  Holland,  Hainault,  and  Brabant — Jacqueline, 
Countess  of  Holland  and  Hainault — Flies  from  the  Tyranny  of 
her  Husband,  John  of  Brabant,  and  takes  Refuge  in  England — 
Murder  of  John  the  Fearless,  Duke  of  Burgundy — Accession  of 
his  Son,  Philip  the  Good— His  Policy— Espouses  the  Cause  of 


CONTENTS  6 

John  of  Brabant  against  Jacqueline — Deprives  her  of  Hainault, 
Holland,  and  Zealand — Continues  his  Persecution,  and  despoils 
her  of  her  last  Possession  and  Titles — She  marries  a  Gentleman 
of  Zealand,  and  Dies — Peace  of  Arras — Dominions  of  the  House 
of  Burgundy  equal  to  the  present  Extent  of  the  Kingdom  of  the 
Netherlands — Rebellion  of  Ghent — Affairs  of  Holland  and  Zea- 
land— Charles  the  Rash — His  Conduct  in  Holland — Succeeds  his 
Father — Effects  of  Philip's  Reign  on  the  Manners  of  the  People 
— Louis  XI. — Death  of  Charles,  and  Succession  of  Mary — Fac- 
tions among  her  Subjects — Marries  Maximilian  of  Austria — 
Battle  of  Guinegate — Death  of  Mary — Maximilian  unpopular — 
Imprisoned  by  his  Subjects — Released — Invades  the  Netherlands 
— Succeeds  to  the  Imperial  Throne  by  the  Death  of  his  Father 
— Philip  the  Fair  proclaimed  Duke  and  Count — His  wise  Admin- 
istration— Affairs  of  Friesland — Of  Guelders — Charles  of  Egmont 
—Death  of  Philip  the  Fair 60 

CHAPTER    VI 

FROM  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  MARGARET  OF    AUSTRIA  TO  THE  ABDICATION 
OF  THE  EMPEROR  CHARLES  V 

A.D.  1506-1555 

Margaret  of  Austria  invested  with  the  Sovereignty — Her  Character 
and  Government — Charles,  Son  of  Philip  the  Fair,  created  Duke 
of  Brabant  and  Count  of  Flanders  and  Holland — The  Reforma- 
tion—Martin Luther — Persecution  of  the  Reformers — Battle  of 
Pavia— Cession  of  Utrecht  to  Charles  V. — Peace  of  Cambray — 
The  Anabaptists'  Sedition  at  Ghent — Expedition  against  Tunis 
and  Algiers — Charles  becomes  possessed  of  Friesland  and  Guel-  . 
ders — His  increasing  Severity  against  the  Protestants — His  Ab- 
dication and  Death — Review — Progress  of  Civilization  ....  82 

CHAPTER   VII 

FROM  THE  ACCESSION  OF  PHILIP  H.   OF  SPAIN  TO  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF 
THE  INQUISITION  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS 

A.D.  1555—1566 

Accession  of  Philip  II. — His  Character  and  Government — His  Wars 
with  France,  and  with  the  Pope — Peace  with  the  Pope — Battle 
of  St.  Quentin — Battle  of  Gravelines — Peace  of  Cateau-Cam- 
bresis — Death  of  Mary  of  England — Philip's  Despotism — Estab- 
lishes a  Provisional  Government — Convenes  the  States-General 
at  Ghent — His  Minister  Granvelle — Goes  to  Zealand — Embarks 


6  CONTENTS 

for  Spain — Prosperity  revives — Effects  of  the  Provisional  Gov- 
ernment —  Marguerite  of  Parma  —  Character  of  Granvelle — 
Viglius  de  Berlaimont— Departure  of  the  Spanish  Troops  — 
Clergy  —  Bishops — National  Discontent — Granvelle  appointed 
Cardinal — Edict  against  Heresy — Popular  Indignation — Refor- 
mation— State  of  Brabant — Confederacy  against  Granvelle — 
Prince  of  Orange — Counts  Egmont  and  Horn  join  the  Prince 
against  Granvelle — Granvelle  recalled — Council  of  Trent — Its 
Decrees  received  with  Reprobation — Decrees  against  Reformers 
— Philip's  Bigotry — Establishment  of  the  Inquisition — Popular 
Resistance 95 

CHAPTER    VIII 

COMMENCEMENT  OP  THE  REVOLUTION 
A.D.  1566 

Commencement  of  the  Revolution — Defence  of  the  Prince  of  Orange 
— Confederacy  of  the  Nobles — Louis  of  Nassau — De  Brederode — 
Philip  de  St.  Aldegonde — Assembly  of  the  Council  of  State — 
Confederates  enter  Brussels — Take  the  Title  of  Gueux — Quit 
Brussels,  and  disperse  in  the  Provinces — Measures  of  Govern- 
ment— Growing  Power  of  the  Confederates — Progress  of  the 
Reformation — Field  Preaching  —  Herman  Strieker  —  Boldness 
of  the  Protestants — Peter  Dathen — Ambrose  Ville — Situation  of 
Antwerp — The  Prince  repairs  to  it,  and  saves  it — Meeting  of  the 
Confederates  at  St.  Trend — The  Prince  of  Orange  and  Count 
Egmont  treat  with  them — Tyranny  of  Philip  and  Moderation 
of  the  Spanish  Council — Image  Breakers — Destruction  of  the 
Cathedral  of  Antwerp — Terror  of  Government — Firmness  of 
Viglius — Arbitration  between  the  Court  and  the  People — Con- 
cessions made  by  Government — Restoration  of  Tranquillity  .  .  180 

CHAPTER    IX 

TO  THE  ADMINISTRATION  OP  REQUE8EN8 
A.D.  1666—1578 

Philip's  Vindictiveness  and  Hypocrisy— Progress  of  Protestantism — 
Gradual  Dissolution  of  the  Conspiracy — Artifices  of  Philip  and 
the  Court  to  disunite  the  Protestants — Firmness  of  the  Prince 
of  Orange — Conference  at  Termonde — Egmont  abandons  the 
Patriot  Cause — Fatal  Effects  of  his  Conduct — Commencement 
of  Hostilities— Siege  of  Valenciennes — Protestant  Synod  at  Ant- 


CONTENTS  7 

werp — Haughty  Conduct~of  the  Government— Royalists  Re- 
pulsed at  Bois-le-duc — Battle  of  Osterweel,  and  Defeat  of  the 
Patriots — Antwerp  again  saved  by  the". Firmness  and  Prudence 
of  the  Prince  of  Orange — Capitulation  of  Valenciennes — Success 
of  the  Royalists — Death  of  De  Brederode — New  Oath  of  Alle- 
giance; Refused  by  the  Prince  of  Orange  and  others — The 
Prince  resolves  on  voluntary  Banishment,  and  departs  for  Ger- 
many— His  Example  is  followed  by  the  Lords — Extensive  Emi- 
gration— Arrival  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans — Egmont's  Humiliation 
— Alva's  Powers — Arrest  of  Egmont  and  others — Alva's  first 
Acts  of  Tyranny — Council  of  Blood — Recall  of  the  Government 
— Alva's  Character — He  summons  the  Prince  of  Orange,  who  is 
tried  by  Contumacy — Horrors  committed  by  Alva — Desolate 
State  of  the  Country — Trial  and  Execution  of  Egmont  aud  Horn 
— The  Prince  of  Orange  raises'an  Army  in  Germany,  and  opens 
his  first  Campaign  in  the  Netherlands — Battle  of  Heiligerlee — 
Death  of  Adolphus  of  Nassau — Battle  of  Jemminghem — Suc- 
cess and  skilful  Conduct  of  Alva — Dispersion  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange's  Army — Growth  of  the  naval  Power  of  the  Patriots — 
Inundation  in  Holland  and  Friesland — Alva  reproached  by 
Philip — Duke  of  Medina-Celi  appointed  Governor — Is  attacked, 
and  his  fleet  destroyed  by  the  Patriots — Demands  his  Recall — 
Policy  of  the  English  Queen,  Elizabeth — The  Dutch  take  Brille 
— General  Revolt  in  Holland  and  Zealand — New  Expedition  of 
the  Prince  of  Orange — Siege  of  Mons — Success  of  the  Prince — 
Siege  of  Haarlem — Of  Alkmaer — Removal  of  Alva — Don  Luis 
Zanega  y  Requesens  appointed  Governor-General 136 


CHAPTER   X 

TO  THE  PACIFICATION  OF  GHENT 
A.D.  1573—1576 

Character  of  Requesens — His  conciliating  Conduct — Renews  the 
War  against  the  States — Siege  of  Middleburg — Generosity  of 
the  Prince  of  Orange — Naval  Victory — State  of  Flanders — Count 
Louis  of  Nassau — Battle  of  Mookerheyde — Counts  Louis  and 
Henry  slain — Mutiny  of  the  Spanish  Troops — Siege  of  Leyden — 
Negotiations  for  Peace  at  Breda — The  Spaniards  take  Zuriczee 
— Requesens  dies — The  Government  devolves  on  the  Council 
of  State — Miserable  State  of  the  Country,  and  Despair  of  the 
Patriots — Spanish  Mutineers — The  States-General  are  convoked, 
and  the  Council  arrested  by  the  Grand  Bailiff  of  Brabant — The 
Spanish  Mutineers  sack  and  capture  Maastricht,  and  afterward 


CONTENTS 

Antwerp — The  States-General  assemble  at  Ghent  and  assume 
the  Government — The  Pacification  of  Ghent 158 


CHAPTER    XI 

TO  THE  RENUNCIATION  OP  THE  SOVEREIGNTY  OF  SPAIN  AND  THB 
DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE 

A.D.  1576-1580 

Don  John  of  Austria,  Governor-General,  arrives  in  the  Nether- 
lands— His  Character  and  Conduct — The  States  send  an  Envoy 
to  Elizabeth  of  England — She  advances  them  a  Loan  of  Money 
— The  Union  of  Brussels— The  Treaty  of  Marche-en-Faruenne, 
called  the  Perpetual  Edict — The  impetuous  Conduct  of  Don 
John  excites  the  public  Suspicion — He  seizes  on  the  Citadel  of 
Namur — The  Prince  of  Orange  is  named  Protector  of  Brabant— 
The  People  destroy  the  Citadels  of  Antwerp  and  other  Towns 
—The  Duke  of  Arschot  is  named  Governor  of  Flanders — He 
invites  the  Archduke  Mathias  to  accept  the  Government  of  the 
Netherlands — Wise  Conduct  of  the  Prince  of  Orange — Ryhove 
and  Hembyse  possess  themselves  of  supreme  Power  at  Ghent — 
The  Prince  of  Orange  goes  there  and  establishes  Order — The 
Archduke  Mathias  is  installed — The  Prince  of  Parma  arrives  in 
the  Netherlands,  and  gains  the  Battle  of  Gemblours — Confusion 
of  the  States-General — The  Duke  of  Alencon  comes  to  their 
Assistance — Dissensions  among  the  Patriot  Chiefs — Death  of 
Don  John  of  Austria — Suspicions  of  his  having  been  Poisoned 
by  Order  of  Philip  II. — The  Prince  of  Parma  is  declared  Gov- 
ernor-General— The  Union  of  Utrecht — The  Prince  of  Parma 
takes  the  Field — The  Congress  of  Cologne  rendered  fruitless  by 
the  Obstinacy  of  Philip — The  States-General  assemble  at  Ant- 
werp, and  issue  a  Declaration  of  National  Independence — The 
Sovereignty  of  the  Netherlands  granted  to  the  Duke  of 
Alencon  ,  ,168 


A.n.  1580—1584 


Proscription  of  the  Prince  of  Orange — His  celebrated  Apology — 
Philip  proposes  sending  back  the  Duchess  of  Parma  as  Stadt- 
holderesa — Her  Son  refuses  to  act  jointly  with  her,  and  is  left  in 
the  Exercise  of  his  Power — The  Siege  of  Catnbray  undertaken  by 
the  Prince  of  Parma,  and  gallantly  defended  by  the  Princess  at 


CONTENTS  £ 

Bpinoi — The  Duke  of  Alencon  created  Duke  of  Anjou — Repairs 
to  England,  in  hopes  of  marrying  Queen  Elizabeth — He  returna 
to  the  Netherlands  unsuccessful,  and  is  inaugurated  at  Antwerp 
—The  Prince  of  Orange  desperately  wounded  by  an  Assassin- 
Details  on  John  Jaureguay  and  his  Accomplices — The  People 
suspect  the  French  of  the  Crime — Rapid  Recovery  of  the  Prince, 
who  soon  resumes  his  accustomed  Activity — Violent  Conduct 
of  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  who  treacherously  attempts  to  seize  on 
Antwerp — He  is  defeated  by  the  Townspeople — His  Disgrace 
and  Death — Ungenerous  Suspicions  of  the  People  against  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  who  leaves  Flanders  in  Disgust — Treachery  of 
the  Prince  of  Chimay  and  others — Treason  of  Hembyse — He  is 
executed  at  Ghent — The  States  resolve  to  confer  the  Sovereign- 
ty on  the  Prince  of  Orange — He  is  murdered  at  Delft — Parallel 
between  him  and  the  Admiral  Coligny — Execution  of  Balthazar 
Gerard,  his  Assassin — Complicity  of  the  Prince  of  Parma  .  .  .  181 

CHAPTER   XIII 

TO  THE  DEATH  OF  ALEXANDER,   PRINCE  OF  PARMA 
A.D.  1584—1592 

Effects  of  William's  Death  on  the  History  of  his  Country — Firm 
Conduct  of  the  United  Provinces — They  reject  the  Overtures 
of  the  Prince  of  Parma — He  reduces  the  whole  of  Flanders — De* 
plorable  Situation  of  the  Country — Vigorous  Measures  of  the 
Northern  States — Antwerp  besieged— Operations  of  the  Siege 
—Immense  Exertions  of  the  Besiegers — The  Infernal  Machine- 
Battle  on  the  Dike  of  Couvestien — Surrender  of  Antwerp — Ex- 
travagant Joy  of  Philip  II. — The  United  Provinces  solicit  the 
Aid  of  France  and  England — Elizabeth  sends  them  a  supply  of 
Troops  under  the  Earl  of  Leicester — He  returns  to  England- 
Treachery  of  some  English  and  Scotch  Officers — Prince  Maurice 
commences  his  Career — The  Spanish  Armada — Justin  of  Nassau 
blocks  up  the  Prince  of  Parma  in  the  Flemish  Ports — Ruin  of 
the  Armada — Philip's  Mock  Piety  on  hearing  the  News — Leices- 
ter dies — Exploits  and  Death  of  Martin  Schenck — Breda  sur- 
prised— The  Duke  of  Parma  leads  his  Army  into  France — His 
famous  Retreat — His  Death  and  Character 108 

CHAPTER   XIV 

TO  THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  BELGIUM  AND  THE  DEATH  OF  PHILIP  II. 

A.D.  1592—1599 

Count  Mansfield  named  Governor-General — State  of  Flanders  and 
Brabant — The  Archduke  Ernest  named  Governor-General—- 


10  CONTENTS 

Attempts  against  the  Life  of  Prince  Maurice — He  takes  Gron- 
ingen — Death  of  the  Archduke  Ernest — Count  Fuentes  named 
Governor-General — He  takes  Cambray  and  other  Towns — Is 
soon  replaced  by  the  Archduke  Albert  of  Austria — His  high 
Reputation — He  opens  his  first  Campaign  in  the  Netherlands — 
His  Successes — Prince  Maurice  gains  the  Battle  of  Turnhout — 
Peace  of  Vervins — Philip  yields  the' Sovereignty  of  the  Nether- 
lands to  Albert  and  Isabella — A  new  Plot  against  the  Life  of 
Prince  Maurice — Albert  sets  out  for  Spain,  and  receives  the 
News  of  Philip's  Death — Albert  arrives  in  Spain,  and  solemnizes 
his  Marriage  with  the  Infanta  Isabella — Review  of  the  State  of 
the  Netherlands 211 

CHAPTER    XV 

TO  THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  PRINCE  MAUBICX  AND  8PINOLA 
A.D.  1599-1604 

Cardinal  Andrew  of  Austria  Governor — Francisco  Mendoza,  Ad- 
miral of  Aragon,  invades  the  neutral  States  of  Germany — His 
atrocious  Conduct — Prince  Maurice  takes  the  Field — His  mas- 
terly Movements — Sybilla  of  Cleves  raises  an  Army,  which  is 
quickly  destroyed — Great  Exertions  of  the  States-General — 
Naval  Expedition  under  Vander  Goes — Its  complete  Failure- 
Critical  Situation  of  the  United  Provinces— Arrival  of  the  Arch- 
duke in  Brussels — Success  of  Prince  Maurice — His  Expedition 
into  Flanders — Energy  of  the  Archduke — Heroism  of  Isabella 
— Progress  of  Albert's  Army — Its  first  Success — Firmness  of 
Maurice— The  Battle  of  Nieuport— Total  Defeat  of  the  Royal- 
ists— Consequences  of  the  Victory — Prince  Maurice  returns  to 
Holland — Negotiations  for  Peace — Siege  of  Ostend — Death  of 
Elizabeth  of  England — United  Provinces  send  Ambassadors  to 
James  I. — Successful  Negotiations  of  Barneveldt  and  the  Duke 
of  Sally  in  London — Peace  between  England  and  Spain — Bril- 
liant Campaign  between  Spinola  and  Prince  Maurice — Battle  of 
Roeroord — Naval  Transactions — Progress  of  Dutch  Influence  in 
India — Establishment  of  the  East  India  Company 228 

CHAPTER    XVI 

TO  THE  SYNOD  OF  DOET  AND  THE  EXECUTION  OF  BABNEVHLDT 
A.D.  1600— 16» 

Spinola  proposes  to  invade  the  United  Provinces — Successfully  op- 
posed by  Prince  Maurice — The  Dutch  defeated  at  Sea — Desper- 


CONTENTS  11 

ate  Conduct  of  Admiral  Klagoon— Great  naval  Victory  of  the 
Dutch,  and  Death  of  their  Admiral  Heemskirk — Overtures  of 
the  Archdukes  for  Peace — How  received  in  Holland— Prudent 
Conduct  of  Barneveldt — Negotiations  opened  at  The  Hague — 
John  de  Neyen,  Ambassador  for  the  Archdukes — Armistice  for 
Eight  Months — Neyen  attempts  to  bribe  D'Aarsens,  the  Greffier 
of  the  States-General — His  Conduct  disclaimed  by  Verreiken, 
Counsellor  to  the  Archdukes — Great  Prejudices  in  Holland 
against  King  James  I.  and  the  English,  and  Partiality  toward 
France— Rupture  of  the  Negotiations — They  are  renewed — Truce 
for  Twelve  Years  signed  at  Antwerp — Gives  great  Satisfaction 
in  the  Netherlands — Important  Attitude  of  the  United  Prov- 
inces— Conduct  of  the  Belgian  Provinces — Disputes  relative  to 
Cleves  and  Juliers — Prince  Maurice  and  Spinola  remove  their 
Armies  into  the  contested  States — Intestine  Troubles  in  the 
United  Provinces — Assassination  of  Henry  IV.  of  France — His 
Character — Change  in  Prince  Maurice's  Character  and  Conduct 
— He  is  strenuously  opposed  by  Barneveldt — Religious  Disputes 
—King  James  enters  the  Lists  of  Controversy — Barneveldt  and 
Maurice  take  opposite  Sides — The  cautionary  Towns  released 
from  the  Possession  of  England — Consequences  of  this  Event — 
Calumnies  against  Barneveldt — Ambitious  Designs  of  Prince 
Maurice — He  is  baffled  by  Barneveldt — The  Republic  assists  its 
Allies  with  Money  and  Ships — Its  great  naval  Power — Outrages 
of  some  Dutch  Sailors  in  Ireland — Unresented  by  King  James — 
His  Anger  at  the  manufacturing  Prosperity  of  the  United 
Provinces — Excesses  of  the  Gomarists — The  Magistrates  call  out 
the  National  Militia— Violent  Conduct  of  Prince  Maurice — Un- 
compromising Steadiness  of  Barneveldt — Calumnies  against 
him — Maurice  succeeds  to  the  Title  of  Prince  of  Orange,  and 
Acts  with  increasing  Violence — Arrest  of  Barneveldt  and  his 
Friends — Synod  of  Dort — Its  Consequences — Trial,  Condemna- 
tion, and  Execution  of  Barneveldt— Grotius  and  Hoogerbeets 
sentenced  to  perpetual  Imprisonment  —  Ledenburg  commits 
Suicide 28S 

CHAPTER   XVII 

TO  THE  DEATH  OF  PRINCE  MAURICB 
A.D.  1619-1625 

TChe  Parties  of  Arminianism  quite  subdued — Emigrations — Grotius 
resolves  to  attempt  an  Escape  from  Prison — Succeeds  in  his  At- 
tempt— He  repairs  to  Paris,  and  publishes  his  "Apology" — 
Expiration  of  the  Twelve  Years'  Truce— Death  of  Philip  HI.  and 


12  CONTENTS 

of  the  Archduke  Albert — War  in  Germany — Campaign  between 
Prince  Maurice  and  Spinola — Conspiracy  against  the  Life  of 
Prince  Maurice — Its  Failure — Fifteen  of  the  Conspirators  exe- 
cuted— Great  Unpopularity  of  Maurice — Death  of  Maurice  .  .  261 

CHAPTER    XVIII 

TO  THE  TREATY  OF  MHNSTEB 
A.D.  1625—1648 

Frederick  Henry  succeeds  his  Brother — Charles  I.  King  of  England 
— War  between  France  and  England — Victories  of  Admiral  Hein 
— Brilliant  Success  of  Frederick  Henry — Fruitless  Enterprise  in 
Flanders — Death  of  the  Archduchess  Isabella — Confederacy  in 
Brabant — Its  Failure,  and  Arrest  of  the  Nobles — Ferdinand, 
Prince-Cardinal,  Governor-General — Treaty  bet  ween  France  and 
Holland— Battle  of  Avein — Naval  Affairs — Battle  of  the  Downs 
— Van  Tromp — Negotiations  for  the  Marriage  of  Prince  William 
with  the  Princess  Mary  of  England — Death  of  the  Prince-Car- 
dinal— Don  Francisco  de  Mello  Governor-General — Battle  of  Roc- 
roy — Gallantry  of  Prince  William — Death  of  Cardinal  Richelieu 
and  of  Louis  XIII. — English  Politics — Affairs  of  Germany — Ne- 
gotiations for  Peace — Financial  Embarrassment  of  the  Republic 
— The  Republic  negotiates  with  Spain — Last  Exploits  of  Fred- 
erick Henry — His  Death,  and  Character — William  II.  Stadt- 
holder — Peace  of  Munster — Resentment  of  Louis  XIII. — Peace  of 
Westphalia — Review  of  the  Progress  of  Art,  Science,  and  Man- 
ners —  Literature  —  Painting  —  Engraving — Sculpture — Archi- 
tecture— Finance — Population— Commercial  Companies — Man- 
ners   071 

CHAPTER   XIX 

FROM  THB  PEACE  OF  MUNSTER  TO  THE  PEACE  OF  NIMEGUEN 
A.D.  1648—1678 

State  of  the  Republic  after  the  Peace  of  Munster — State  of  England 
— William  II.  Stadtholder — His  ambitious  Designs  and  Violent 
Conduct — Attempts  to  seize  on  Amsterdam — His  Death — Dif- 
ferent Sensations  caused  by  his  Death — The  Prerogatives  of  the 
Stadtholder  assumed  by  the  People — Naval  War  with  England 
— English  Act  of  Navigation — Irish  Hostilities — Death  of  Tromp 
— A  Peace  with  England — Disturbed  State  of  the  Republic — 
War  with  Denmark — Peace  concluded — Charles  II.  restored  to 
the  English  Throne — Declares  War  against  Holland — Naval  Ac- 


CONTENTS  15 

tions — Charles  endeavors  to  excite  all  Europe  against  the  Dutch 
— His  Failure — Renewed  Hostilities — De  Ruyter  defeated — Peace 
of  Breda — Invasion  of  Flanders  by  Louis  XIV. — He  overruns 
Brabant  and  Flanders — Triple  League,  1668 — Perfidious  Conduct 
of  Charles  II. — He  declares  War  against  Holland,  etc.,  as  does 
Louis  XIV. — Unprepared  State  of  United  Provinces — William 
III.  Prince  of  Orange — Appointed  Captain-General  and  High 
Admiral — Battle  of  Solebay — The  French  Invade  the  Republic 
— The  States-General  implore  Peace— Terms  demanded  by  Louis 
XIV.  and  by  Charles  II. — Desperation  of  the  Dutch — The  Prince 
of  Orange  proclaimed  Stadtholder — Massacre  of  the  De  Witts — 
Fine  Conduct  of  the  Prince  of  Orange — He  takes  the  Field — Is 
reinforced  by  Spain,  the  Emperor,  and  Brandenburg — Louis 
XIV.  forced  to  abandon  his  Conquests — Naval  Actions  with  the 
English— A  Peace,  1674— Military  Affairs— Battle  of  Senef— 
Death  of  De  Ruyter — Congress  for  Peace  at  Nimeguen — Battle 
of  Mont  Cassel— Marriage  of  the  Prince  of  Orange — Peace  of 
Nimeguen 290 

CHAPTER    XX 

PROM  THE  PEACE  OP  NIMEGUEN  TO  THE  PEACE  OP  UTRECHT 
A.D.  1678—1713 

State  of  Europe  subsequently  to  the  Peace  of  Nimeguen — Arrogant 
Conduct  of  Louis  XIV. — Truce  for  Twenty  Years — Death  of 
Charles  II.  of  England — League  of  Augsburg — The  Conduct  of 
William — He  invades  England — James  II.  deposed — William 
III.  proclaimed  King  of  England — King  William  puts  himself 
at  the  Head  of  the  Confederacy  against  Louis  XIV.,  and  enters 
on  the  War — Military  Operations — Peace  of  Ryswyk — Death  of 
Charles  II.  of  Spain — War  of  Succession — Death  of  William  III. 
— His  Character—  Duke  of  Marlborough — Prince  Eugene — Suc- 
cesses of  the  Earl  of  Peterborough  in  Spain  and  Portugal — 
Louis  XIV.  solicits  Peace — Conferences  for  Peace — Peace  of 
Utrecht— Treaty  of  the  Barrier 811 

CHAPTER   XXI 

FROM  THE  PEACE  OP  UTRECHT  TO  THE  INCORPORATION   OP  BELGIUM 
WITH  THE  FRENCH  REPUBLIC 

A.D.  1713-1794 

Quadruple  Alliance — General  Peace  of  Europe — Wise  Conduct  of  the 
Republic — Great  Danger  from  the  bad  State  of  the  Dikee— 


14  CONTENTS 

Death  of  the  Emperor  Charles  VI. — Maria  Theresa  Empress — 
Her  heroic  Conduct — Battle  of  Dettingen — Louis  XV.  invades 
the  Netherlands — Conferences  for  Peace  at  Breda — Battle  of 
Fontenoy — William  IV.  Stadtholder  and  Captain-General — 
Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle — Death  of  the  Stadtholder,  who  is 
succeeded  by  his  Son  William  V. — War  of  Seven  Years — State 
of  the  Republic — William  V.  Stadtholder — Dismemberment  of 
Poland — Joseph  II.  Emperor — His  attempted  Reforms  in  Relig- 
ion— War  with  England — Sea-Fight  on  the  Doggerbank — Peace 
with  England,  1784 — Progress  of  Public  Opinion  in  Europe,  in 
Belgium,  and  Holland — Violent  Opposition  to  the  Stadtholder — 
Arrest  of  the  Princess  of  Orange — Invasion  of  Holland  by  the 
Prussian  Army — Agitation  in  Belgium — Vander  Noot — Prince 
Albert  of  Saxe-Teschen  and  the  Archduchess  Maria  Theresa 
joint  Governors-General — Succeeded  by  Count  Murray — Riots — 
Meetings  of  the  Provisional  States — General  Insurrection — 
Vonckists — Vander  Mersch — Takes  the  Command  of  the  Insur- 
gents— His  Skilful  Conduct — He  gains  .the  Battle  of  Turnhout — 
Takes  Possession  of  Flanders — Confederation  of  the  Belgian 
Provinces — Death  of  Joseph  II. — Leopold  Emperor — Arrest  of 
Vander  Mersch — Arrogance  of  the  States-General  of  Belgium — 
The  Austrians  overrun  the  Country — Convention  at  The  Hague 
— Death  of  Leopold — Battle  of  Jemmappes — General  Dumouriez 
— Conquest  of  Belgium  by  the  French — Recovered  by  the  Aus- 
trians— The  Archduke  Charles  Governor-General — War  in  the 
Netherlands — Duke  of  York — The  Emperor  Francis — The  Battle 
of  Fleurus — Incorporation  of  Belgium  with  the  French  Repub- 
lic— Peace  of  Leoben — Treaty  of  Campo-Formio  385 


CHAPTER   XXII 


A.D.  1794-1813. 

Pichegru  invades  Holland — Winter  Campaign — The  Duke  of  York 
vainly  resists  the  French  Army — Abdication  of  the  Stadtholder 
— Batavian  Republic — War  with  England — Unfortunate  Situ- 
ation of  Holland  —  Naval  Fight — English  Expedition  to  the 
Helder — Napoleon  Bonaparte — Louis  Bonaparte  named  King1  of 
Holland — His  popular  Conduct — He  abdicates  the  Throne — An- 
nexation of  Holland  to  the  French  Empire — Ruinous  to  the 
Prosperity  of  the  Republic — The  People  desire  the  Return  of 
the  Prince  of  Orange— Confederacy  to  effect  this  Purpose — The 


CONTENTS  1§ 

Allied  Armies  advance  toward  Holland — The  Nation  rises  to 
throw  off  the  Yoke  of  France — Count  Sty  rum  and  his  Asso- 
ciates lead  on  that  Movement,  and  proclaim  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  who  lands  from  England — His  first  Proclamation — His 
second  Proclamation  346 

CHAPTER  XXIII 

FROM    THE    INSTALLATION    OF  WILLIAM  I.   AS   PRINCE-SOVEREIGN  OF  THB 
NETHERLANDS  TO   THE   BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO 

A.D.  1813—1815 

Rapid  Organization  of  Holland — The  Constitution  formed  —  Ac- 
cepted by  the  People — Objections  made  to  it  by  some  Indi- 
viduals— Inauguration  of  the  Prince-Sovereign — Belgium  is 
occupied  by  the  Allies — Treaty  of  Paris — Treaty  of  London — 
Formation  of  the  Kingdom  of  the  Netherlands — Basis  of  the 
Government — Relative  Character  and  Situation  of  Holland  and 
Belgium — The  Prince-Sovereign  of  Holland  arrives  in  Belgium 
as  Governor-General — The  fundamental  Law — Report  of  the 
Commissioners  by  whom  it  was  framed — Public  Feeling  in  Hol- 
land, and  in  Belgium — The  Emperor  Napoleon  invades  France, 
and  Belgium — The  Prince  of  Orange  takes  the  Field — The  Duke 
of  Wellington — Prince  Blucher — Battle  of  Ligny — Battle  of 
Quatre  Bras — Battle  of  Waterloo — Anecdote  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  who  is  wounded — Inauguration  of  the  King  ....  387 

SUPPLEMENTABY   CHAPTER   (A.D.   1815—1899) 918 


HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 


CHAPTER   I 

FROM  THE  INVASION  OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  BY  THE  ROMANS 
TO  THE  INVASION  BY  THE  SALIAN  FRANKS 

B.C.   50— A.D.   250 

THE  NETHERLANDS  form  a  kingdom  of  moderate 
extent,  situated  on  the  borders  of  the  ocean,  opposite 
to  the  southeast  coast  of  England,  and  stretching  from 
the  frontiers  of  France  to  those  of  Hanover.  The  country  is 
principally  composed  of  low  and  humid  grounds,  presenting 
a  vast  plain,  irrigated  by  the  waters  from  all  those  neighbor- 
ing states  which  are  traversed  by  the  Rhine,  the  Meuse,  and 
the  Scheldt.  This  plain,  gradually  rising  toward  its  eastern 
and  southern  extremities,  blends  on  the  one  hand  with  Prus- 
sia, and  on  the  other  with  France.  Having,  therefore,  no 
natural  or  strongly  marked  limits  on  those  sides,  the  extent 
of  the  kingdom  could  only  be  determined  by  convention;  and 
it  must  be  at  all  times  subject  to  the  arbitrary  and  varying 
influence  of  European  policy.  Its  greatest  length,  from  north 
to  south,  is  about  two  hundred  and  twenty  English  miles; 
and  its  breadth,  from  east  to  west,  is  nearly  one  hundred 
and  forty. 

Two  distinct  kinds  of  men  inhabit  this  kingdom.  The  one 
occupying  the  valleys  of  the  Meuse  and  the  Scheldt,  and  the 
high  grounds  bordering  on  France,  speak  a  dialect  of  the 
language  of  that  country,  and  evidently  belong  to  the  Gallic 
race.  They  are  called  Walloons,  and  are  distinguished  from 
the  others  by  many  peculiar  qualities.  Their  most  prominent 
characteristic  is  a  propensity  for  war,  and  their  principal 

(17) 


18  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

source  of  subsistence  the  working  of  their  mines.  They 
form  nearly  one-fourth  of  the  population  of  the  whole  king- 
dom, or  about  one  million  three  hundred  thousand  persons. 
All  the  rest  of  the  nation  speak  Low  German,  in  its  modifi 
cations  of  Dutch  and  Flemish ;  and  they  offer  the  distinctive 
characteristics  of  the  Saxon  race — talents  for  agriculture, 
navigation,  and  commerce;  perseverance  rather  than  vivac- 
ity; and  more  courage  than  taste  for  the  profession  of  arms. 
They  are  subdivided  into  Flemings — those  who  were  the  last 
to  submit  to  the  House  of  Austria ;  and  Dutch — those  who 
formed  the  republic  of  the  United  Provinces.  But  there  is 
no  difference  between  these  two  subdivisions,  except  such 
as  has  been  produced  by  political  and  religious  institutions. 
The  physical  aspect  of  the  people  is  the  same ;  and  the  soil, 
equally  low  and  moist,  is  at  once  fertilized  and  menaced  by 
the  waters. 

The  history  of  this  last-mentioned  portion  of  the  nation 
is  completely  linked  to  that  of  the  soil  which  they  occupy. 
In  remote  times,  when  the  inhabitants  of  this  plain  were 
few  and  uncivilized,  the  country  formed  but  one  immense 
morass,  of  which  the  chief  part  was  incessantly  inundated 
and  made  sterile  by  the  waters  of  the  sea.  Pliny  the  natu- 
ralist, who  visited  the  northern  coasts,  has  left  us  a  picture 
of  their  state  in  his  days.  "There,"  says  he,  "the  ocean 
pours  in  its  flood  twice  every  day,  and  produces  a  perpetual 
uncertainty  whether  the  country  may  be  considered  as  a 
part  of  the  continent  or  of  the  sea.  The  wretched  inhabi- 
tants take  refuge  on  the  sand-hills,  or  in  little  huts,  which 
they  construct  on  the  summits  of  lofty  stakes,  whose  eleva- 
tion is  conformable  to  that  of  the  highest  tides.  When  the 
sea  rises,  they  appear  like  navigators ;  when  it  retires,  they 
seem  as  though  they  had  been  shipwrecked.  They  subsist 
on  the  fish  left  by  the  refluent  waters,  and  which  they  catch 
in  nets  formed  of  rushes  or  seaweed.  Neither  tree  nor  shrub 
is  visible  on  these  shores.  The  drink  of  the  people  is  rain- 
water, which  they  preserve  with  great  care;  their  fuel,  a 
sort  of  turf,  which  they  gather  and  form  with  the  hand. 


FROM   THE   ROMANS   TO   THE   SALIAN   FRANKS        19 

And  yet  these  unfortunate  beings  dare  to  complain  against 
their  fate,  when  they  fall  under  the  power  and  are  incorpo- 
rated with  the  empire  of  Rome!" 

The  picture  of  poverty  and  suffering  which  this  passage 
presents  is  heightened  when  joined  to  a  description  of  the 
country.  The  coasts  consisted  only  of  sand-banks  or  slime, 
alternately  overflowed  or  left  imperfectly  dry.  A  little 
further  inland,  trees  were  to  be  found,  but  on  a  soil  so 
marshy  that  an  inundation  or  a  tempest  threw  down  whole 
forests,  such  as  are  still  at  times  discovered  at  either  eight 
or  ten  feet  depth  below  the  surface.  The  sea  had  no  limits ; 
the  rivers  no  beds  nor  banks ;  the  earth  no  solidity ;  for,  ac- 
cording to  an  author  of  the  third  century  of  our  era,  there 
was  not,  in  the  whole  of  the  immense  plain,  a  spot  of  ground 
that  did  not  yield  under  the  footsteps  of  man. — Eumenius. 

It  was  not  the  same  in  the  southern  parts,  which  form  at 
present  the  Walloon  country.  These  high  grounds  suffered 
much  less  from  the  ravages  of  the  waters.  The  ancient  for- 
est of  the  Ardennes,  extending  from  the  Rhine  to  the  Scheldt, 
sheltered  a  numerous  though  savage  population,  which  in  all 
things  resembled  the  Germans,  from  whom  they  derived  their 
descent.  The  chase  and  the  occupations  of  rude  agriculture 
sufficed  for  the  wants  of  a  race  less  poor  and  less  patient,  but 
more  unsteady  and  ambitious,  than  the  fishermen  of  the  low 
lands.  Thus  it  is  that  history  presents  us  with  a  tribe  of 
warriors  and  conquerors  on  the  southern  frontier  of  the  coun- 
try ;  while  the  scattered  inhabitants  of  the  remaining  parts 
seemed  to  have  fixed  there  without  a  contest,  and  to  have 
traced  out  for  themselves,  by  necessity  and  habit,  an  exist- 
ence which  any  other  people  must  have  considered  insup- 
portable. 

This  difference  in  the  nature  of  the  soil  and  in  the  fate 
of  the  inhabitants  appears  more  striking  when  we  consider 
the  present  situation  of  the  country.  The  high  grounds,  for- 
merly so  preferable,  are  now  the  least  valuable  part  of  the 
kingdom,  even  as  regards  their  agriculture;  while  the  an- 
cient marshes  have  been  changed  by  human  industry  into 


20  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

rich  and  fertile  tracts,  the  best  parts  of  which  are  precisely 
bhose  conquered  from  the  grasp  of  the  ocean.  In  order  to 
form  an  idea  of  the  solitude  and  desolation  which  once 
reigned  where  we  now  see  the  most  richly  cultivated  fields, 
the  most  thriving  villages,  and  the  wealthiest  towns  of  the 
continent,  the  imagination  must  go  back  to  times  which  have 
act  left  one  monument  of  antiquity  and  scarcely  a  vestige 
of  fact. 

The  history  of  the  Netherlands  is,  then,  essentially  that 
of  a  patient  and  industrious  population  struggling  against 
every  obstacle  which  nature  could  oppose  to  its  well-being ; 
and,  in  this  contest,  man  triumphed  most  completely  over 
the  elements  in  those  places  where  they  offered  the  greatest 
resistance.  This  extraordinary  result  was  due  to  the  hardy 
stamp  of  character  imprinted  by  suffering  and  danger  on 
those  who  had  the  ocean  for  their  foe ;  to  the  nature  of  their 
country,  which  presented  no  lure  for  conquest ;  and,  finally, 
to  the  toleration,  the  justice,  and  the  liberty  nourished  among 
men  left  to  themselves,  and  who  found  resources  in  their  so- 
cial state  which  rendered  change  neither  an  object  of  their 
wants  nor  wishes. 

About  half  a  century  before  the  Christian  era,  the  obscur- 
ity which  enveloped  the  north  of  Europe  began  to  disperse ; 
and  the  expedition  of  Julius  Caesar  gave  to  the  civilized  world 
the  first  notions  of  the  Netherlands,  Germany,  and  England. 
Caesar,  after  having  subjugated  the  chief  part  of  Gaul,  turned 
his  arms  against  the  warlike  tribes  of  the  Ardennes,  who  re- 
fused to  accept  his  alliance  or  implore  his  protection.  They 
were  called  Belgae  by  the  Romans;  and  at  once  pronounced 
the  least  civilized  and  the  bravest  of  the  Gauls.  Caesar  there 
found  several  ignorant  and  poor  but  intrepid  clans  of  war- 
riors, who  marched  fiercely  to  encounter  him ;  and,  notwith- 
standing their  inferiority  in  numbers,  in  weapons,  and  in 
tactics,  they  nearly  destroyed  the  disciplined  armies  of  Rome. 
They  were,  however,  defeated,  and  their  country  ravaged  by 
the  invaders,  who  found  less  success  when  they  attacked  the 
natives  of  the  low  grounds.  The  Menapians,  a  people  who 


FROM   THE    ROMANS    TO    THE    SALIAN    FRANKS         21 

occupied  the  present  provinces  of  Flanders  and  Antwerp, 
though  less  numerous  than  those  whom  the  Romans  had 
last  vanquished,  arrested  their  progress  both  by  open  fight 
and  by  that  petty  and  harassing  contest — that  warfare  of 
the  people  rather  than  of  the  soldiery — so  well  adapted  to 
the  nature  of  the  country.  The  Roman  legions  retreated 
for  the  first  time,  and  were  contented  to  occupy  the  higher 
parts,  which  now  form  the  "Walloon  provinces. 

But  the  policy  of  Caesar  made  greater  progress  than  his 
arms.  He  had  rather  defeated  than  subdued  those  who  had 
dared  the  contest.  He  consolidated  his  victories  without 
new  battles;  he  offered  peace  to  his  enemies,  in  proposing 
to  them  alliance;  and  he  required  their  aid,  as  friends,  to 
carry  on  new  wars  in  other  lands.  He  thus  attracted  to- 
ward him,  and  ranged  under  his  banners,  not  only  those 
people  situated  to  the  west  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Meuse,  but 
several  other  nations  more  to  the  north,  whose  territory  he 
had  never  seen ;  and  particularly  the  Batavians — a  valiant 
tribe,  stated  by  various  ancient  authors,  and  particularly  by 
Tacitus,  as  a  fraction  of  the  Catti,  who  occupied  the  space 
comprised  between  these  rivers.  The  young  men  of  these 
warlike  people,  dazzled  by  the  splendor  of  the  Roman  armies, 
felt  proud  and  happy  in  being  allowed  to  identify  themselves 
with  them.  Caesar  encouraged  this  disposition,  and  even 
went  so  far  on  some  occasions  as  to  deprive  the  Roman 
cavalry  of  their  horses,  on  which  he  mounted  those  new 
allies,  who  managed  them  better  than  their  Italian  riders. 
He  had  no  reason  to  repent  these  measures ;  almost  all  his 
subsequent  victories,  and  particularly  that  of  Pharsalia,  be- 
ing decided  by  the  valor  of  the  auxiliaries  he  obtained  from 
the  Low  Countries. 

These  auxiliaries  were  chiefly  drawn  from  Hainault,  Lux- 
emburg, and  the  country  of  the  Batavians,  and  they  formed 
the  best  cavalry  of  the  Roman  armies,  as  well  as  their  choicest 
light  infantry  force.  The  Batavians  also  signalized  them- 
selves on  many  occasions,  by  the  skill  with  which  they  swam 
across  several  great  rivers  without  breaking  their  squadrons' 


22  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

ranks.  They  were  amply  rewarded  for  their  military  services 
and  hazardous  exploits,  and  were  treated  like  stanch  and  valu- 
able allies.  But  this  unequal  connection  of  a  mighty  empire 
with  a  few  petty  states  must  have  been  fatal  to  the  liberty 
of  the  weaker  party.  Its  first  effect  was  to  destroy  all  feel- 
ing of  nationality  in  a  great  portion  of  the  population.  The 
young  adventurer  of  this  part  of  the  Low  Countries,  after 
twenty  years  of  service  under  the  imperial  eagles,  returned 
to  his  native  wilds  a  Roman.  The  generals  of  the  empire 
pierced  the  forests  of  the  Ardennes  with  causeways,  and 
founded  towns  in  the  heart  of  the  country.  The  result  of 
sue!  innovations  was  a  total  amalgamation  of  the  Romans 
ani  their  new  allies;  and  little  by  little  the  national  char- 
acter of  the  latter  became  entirely  obliterated.  But  to  trace 
now  the  precise  history  of  this  gradual  change  would  be  as 
impossible  as  it  will  be  one  day  to  follow  the  progress  of  civil- 
ization in  the  woods  of  North  America. 

But  it  must  be  remarked  that  this  metamorphosis  affected 
only  the  inhabitants  of  the  high  grounds,  and  the  Batavians 
(who  were  in  their  origin  Germans)  properly  so  called.  The 
scanty  population  of  the  rest  of  the  country,  endowed  with  that 
fidelity  to  their  ancient  customs  which  characterizes  the  Saxon 
race,  showed  no  tendency  to  mix  with  foreigners,  rarely  fig- 
ured hi  their  ranks,  and  seemed  to  revolt  from  the  southern 
refinement  which  was  so  little  in  harmony  with  their  man- 
ners and  ways  of  life.  It  is  astonishing,  at  the  first  view, 
that  those  beings,  whose  whole  existence  was  a  contest  against 
famine  or  the  waves,  should  show  less  inclination  than  their 
happier  neighbors  to  receive  from  Rome  an  abundant  recom- 
pense for  their  services.  But  the  greater  their  difficulty  to 
find  subsistence  in  their  native  land,  the  stronger  seemed 
their  attachment;  like  that  of  the  Switzer  to  his  barren 
rocks,  or  of  the  mariner  to  the  frail  and  hazardous  home 
that  bears  him  afloat  on  the  ocean.  This  race  of  patriots 
was  divided  into  two  separate  peoples.  Those  to  the  north  of 
the  Rhine  were  the  Frisons;  those  to  the  west  of  the  Meuse, 
the  Menapians,  already  mentioned. 


FROM   THE   ROMANS   TO   THE   SALIAN   FRANKS        23 

The  Frisons  differed  little  from  those  early  inhabitants 
of  the  coast,  who,  perched  on  their  high -built  huts,  fed  on 
fish  and  drank  the  water  of  the  clouds.  Slow  and  suc- 
cessive improvements  taught  them  to  cultivate  the  beans 
which  grew  wild  among  the  marshes,  and  to  fend  and  feed 
a  small  and  degenerate  breed  of  horned  cattle.  But  if  these 
first  steps  toward  civilization  were  slow,  they  were  also  sure; 
and  they  were  made  by  a  race  of  men  who  could  never  retro- 
grade in  a  career  once  begun. 

The  Menapians,  equally  repugnant  to  foreign  impressions, 
made,  on  their  part,  a  more  rapid  progress.  They  were  al- 
ready a  maritime  people,  and  carried  on  a  considerable  com- 
merce with  England.  It  appears  that  they  exported  thither 
salt,  the  art  of  manufacturing  which  was  well  known  to 
them ;  and  they  brought  back  in  return  marl,  a  most  impor- 
tant commodity  for  the  improvement  of  their  land.  They 
also  understood  the  preparation  of  salting  meat,  with  a  per- 
fection that  made  it  in  high  repute  even  in  Italy ;  and,  finally, 
we  are  told  by  Ptolemy  that  they  had  established  a  colony  on 
the  eastern  coast  of  Ireland,  not  far  from  Dublin. 

The  two  classes  of  what  forms  at  present  the  population 
of  the  Netherlands  thus  followed  careers  widely  different, 
during  the  long  period  of  the  Roman  power  in  these  parts 
of  Europe.  "While  those  of  the  high  lands  and  the  Batavians 
distinguished  themselves  by  a  long-continued  course  of  mili- 
tary service  or  servitude,  those  of  the  plains  improved  by  de- 
grees their  social  condition,  and  fitted  themselves  for  a  place 
in  civilized  Europe.  The  former  received  from  Rome  great 
marks  of  favor  in  exchange  for  their  freedom.  The  latter, 
rejecting  the  honors  and  distinctions  lavished  on  their 
neighbors,  secured  their  national  independence,  by  trusting 
to  their  industry  alone  for  all  the  advantages  they  gradually 
acquired. 

Were  the  means  of  protecting  themselves  and  their  coun- 
try from  the  inundations  of  the  sea  known  and  practiced  by 
these  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  coast?  or  did  they  occupy 
only  those  elevated  points  of  land  which  stood  out  like  isl- 


*4  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

amis  in  the  middle  of  the  floods?  These  questions  are  among1 
the  most  important  presented  by  their  history ;  since  it  was 
the  victorious  struggle  of  man  against  the  ocean  that  fixed 
the  extent  and  form  of  the  country.  It  appears  almost  cer- 
tain that  in  the  time  of  Caesar  they  did  not  labor  at  the  con- 
struction of  dikes,  but  that  they  began  to  be  raised  during 
the  obscurity  of  the  following  century;  for  the  remains  of 
ancient  towns  are  even  now  discovered  in  places  at  present 
overflowed  by  the  sea.  These  ruins  often  bring  to  light 
traces  of  Roman  construction,  and  Latin  inscriptions  in 
honor  of  the  Menapian  divinities.  It  is,  then,  certain  that 
they  had  learned  to  imitate  those  who  ruled  in  the  neighbor- 
ing countries:  a  result  by  no  means  surprising;  for  even 
England,  the  mart  of  their  commerce,  and  the  nation  with 
which  they  had  the  most  constant  intercourse,  was  at  that 
period  occupied  by  the  Romans.  But  the  nature  of  their 
country  repulsed  so  effectually  every  attempt  at  foreign 
domination  that  the  conquerors  of  the  world  left  them  un- 
molested, and  established  arsenals  and  formed  communica- 
tions with  Great  Britain  only  at  Boulogne  and  in  the  island 
of  the  Batavians  near  Leyden. 

This  isolation  formed  in  itself  a  powerful  and  perfect  bar- 
rier between  the  inhabitants  of  the  plain  and  those  of  the 
high  grounds.  The  first  held  firm  to  their  primitive  customs 
and  their  ancient  language ;  the  second  finished  by  speaking 
Latin,  and  borrowing  all  the  manners  and  usages  of  Italy. 
The  moral  effect  of  this  contrast  was  that  the  people,  once 
BO  famous  for  their  bravery,  lost,  with  their  liberty,  their 
energy  and  their  courage.  One  of  the  Batavian  chieftains, 
named  Civilis,  formed  an  exception  to  this  degeneracy,  and, 
about  the  year  70  of  our  era,  bravely  took  up  arms  for  the 
expulsion  of  the  Romans.  He  effected  prodigies  of  valor 
and  perseverance,  and  boldly  met  and  defeated  the  enemy 
both  by  land  and  sea.  Reverses  followed  his  first  success, 
and  he  finally  concluded  an  honorable  treaty,  by  which  his 
countrymen  once  more  became  the  allies  of  Rome.  But  after 
this  expiring  effort  of  valor,  the  Batavians,  even  though 


FROM   THE   ROMANS   TO   THE    SALIAN   FRANKS        25 

Chosen  from  all  nations  for  the  bodyguards  of  the  Roman 
emperors,  became  rapidly  degenerate;  and  when  Tacitus 
Wrote,  ninety  years  after  Christ,  they  were  already  looked 
on  as  less  brave  than  the  Frisons  and  the  other  peoples  be- 
yond the  Rhine.  A  century  and  a  half  later  saw  them 
confounded  with  the  Gauls;  and  the  barbarian  conquerors 
said  that  "they  were  not  a  nation,  but  merely  a  prey." 

Reduced  into  a  Roman  province,  the  southern  portion  of 
the  Netherlands  was  at  this  period  called  Belgic  Gaul;  and 
the  name  of  Belgium,  preserved  to  our  days,  has  until  lately 
been  applied  to  distinguish  that  part  of  the  country  situated 
to  the  south  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Meuse,  or  nearly  that  which 
formed  the  Austrian  Netherlands. 

During  the  establishment  of  the  Roman  power  in  the  north 
of  Europe,  observation  was  not  much  excited  toward  the 
rapid  effects  of  this  degeneracy,  compared  with  the  fast- 
growing  vigor  of  the  people  of  the 'low  lands.  The  fact  of 
the  Frisons  having,  on  one  occasion,  near  the  year  47  of  our 
era,  beaten  a  whole  army  of  Romans,  had  confirmed  their 
character  for  intrepidity.  But  the  long  stagnation  produced 
in  these  remote  countries  by  the  colossal  weight  of  the  em- 
pire was  broken,  about  the  year  250,  by  an  irruption  of  Ger- 
mans or  Salian  Franks,  who,  passing  the  Rhine  and  the 
Meuse,  established  themselves  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Mena- 
pians,  near  Antwerp,  Breda  and  Bois-le-duc.  All  the  nations 
that  had  been  subjugated  by  the  Roman  power  appear  to 
have  taken  arms  on  this  occasion  and  opposed  the  intruders. 
But  the  Menapians  united  themselves  with  these  newcomers, 
and  aided  them  to  meet  the  shock  of  the  imperial  armies. 
Carausius,  originally  a  Menapian  pilot,  but  promoted  to  the 
command  of  a  Roman  fleet,  made  common  cause  with  his 
fellow-citizens,  and  proclaimed  himself  emperor  of  Great 
Britain,  where  the  naval  superiority  of  the  Menapians  left 
him  no  fear  of  a  competitor.  In  recompense  of  the  assist- 
ance given  him  by  the  Franks,  he  crossed  the  sea  again  from 
his  new  empire,  to  aid  them  in  their  war  with  the  Batavians, 

the  allies  of  Rome ;  and  having  seized  on  their  islands,  and 
Holland. — 2 


26  HISTORY   OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

massacred  nearly  the  whole  of  its  inhabitants,  he  there  estab- 
lished his  faithful  friends  the  Salians.  Constantius  and  his 
eon  Constantino  the  Great  vainly  strove,  even  after  the  death 
of  the  brave  Carausius,  to  regain  possession  of  the  country; 
but  they  were  forced  to  leave  the  new  inhabitants  in  quiet 
possession  of  their  conquest. 


CHAPTER  II 

FROM    THE    SETTLEMENT    OF    THE    FRANKS    TO    THE    SUBJU- 
GATION   OF    FRIESLAND 

A.D.  850—800 

FROM  this  epoch  we  must  trace  the  progress  of  a  totally 
new  and  distinct  population  in  the  Netherlands.  The 
Batavians  being  annihilated,  almost  without  resist- 
ance, the  low  countries  contained  only  the  free  people  of  the 
German  race.  But  these  people  did  not  completely  sympa- 
thize together  so  as  to  form  one  consolidated  nation.  The 
Salians,  and  the  other  petty  tribes  of  Franks,  their  allies, 
were  essentially  warlike,  and  appeared  precisely  the  same 
as  the  original  inhabitants  of  the  high  grounds.  The  Mena- 
pians  and  the  Frisons,  on  the  contrary,  lost  nothing  of  their 
spirit  of  commerce  and  industry.  The  result  of  this  diversity 
was  a  separation  between  the  Franks  and  the  Menapians. 
"While  the  latter,  under  the  name  of  Armoricans,  joined 
themselves  more  closely  with  the  people  who  bordered  the 
Channel,  the  Frisons  associated  themselves  with  the  tribes 
settled  on  the  limits  of  the  German  Ocean,  and  formed  with 
them  a  connection  celebrated  under  the  title  of  the  Saxon 
League.  Thus  was  formed  on  all  points  a  union  between 
the  maritime  races  against  the  inland  inhabitants ;  and  their 
mutual  antipathy  became  more  and  more  developed  as  the 
decline  of  the  Roman  empire  ended  the  former  struggle 
between  liberty  and  conquest. 

The  Netherlands  now  became  the  earliest  theatre  of  an 
entirely  new  movement,  the  consequences  of  which  were 
destined  to  affect  the  whole  world.  This  country  was  occu- 
pied toward  the  sea  by  a  people  wholly  maritime,  excepting 


28  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

the  narrow  space  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Vahal,  of  which 
the  Salian  Franks  had  become  possessed.  The  nature  of 
this  marshy  soil,  in  comparison  with  the  sands  of  Westphalia, 
Guelders,  and  North  Brabant,  was  not  more  strikingly  con- 
trasted than  was  the  character  of  their  population.  The 
Franks,  who  had  been  for  a  while  under  the  Roman  sway, 
showed  a  compound  of  the  violence  of  savage  life  and  the 
corruption  of  civilized  society.  They  were  covetous  and 
treacherous,  but  made  excellent  soldiers ;  and  at  this  epoch, 
which  intervened  between  the  power  of  imperial  Rome  and 
that  of  Germany,  the  Frank  might  be  morally  considered 
as  a  borderer  on  the  frontiers  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The 
Saxon  (and  this  name  comprehends  all  the  tribes  of  the  coast 
from  the  Rhine  as  far  north  as  Denmark),  uniting  in  himself 
the  distinctive  qualities  of  German  and  navigator,  was  mod- 
erate and  sincere,  but  implacable  in  his  rage.  Neither  of 
these  two  races  of  men  was  excelled  in  point  of  courage; 
but  the  number  of  Franks  who  still  entered  into  the  service 
of  the  empire  diminished  the  real  force  of  this  nation,  and 
naturally  tended  to  disunite  it.  Therefore,  in  the  subsequent 
shock  of  people  against  people,  the  Saxons  invariably  gained 
the  final  advantage. 

They  had  no  doubt  often  measured  their  strength  in  the 
most  remote  times,  since  the  Franks  were  but  the  descend- 
ants of  the  ancient  tribes  of  Sicambers  and  others,  against 
whom  the  Batavians  had  offered  their  assistance  to  Caesar. 
Under  Augustus,  the  inhabitants  of  the  coast  had  in  the 
same  way  joined  themselves  with  Drusus,  to  oppose  these 
their  old  enemies.  It  was  also  after  having  been  expelled 
by  the  Frisons  from  Guelders  that  the  Salians  had  passed 
the  Rhine  and  the  Meuse;  but,  in  the  fourth  century,  the 
two  peoples,  recovering  their  strength,  the  struggle  recom- 
menced, never  to  terminate — at  least  between  the  direct  de- 
scendants of  each.  It  is  believed  that  it  was  the  Vami, 
a  race  of  Saxons  nearly  connected  with  those  of  England 
(and  coming,  like  them,  from  the  coast  of  Denmark),  who 
on  this  occasion  struck  the  decisive  blow  on  the  side  of  the 


TO   THE   SUBJUGATION    OF   FRIESLAND  29 

Saxons.  Embarking  on  board  a  numerous  fleet,  they  made 
a  descent  in  the  ancient  isle  of  the  Batavians,  at  that  time 
inhabited  by  the  Salians,  whom  they  completely  destroyed. 
Julian  the  Apostate,  who  was  then  with  a  numerous  army 
pursuing  his  career  of  early  glory  in  these  countries,  inter- 
fered for  the  purpose  of  preventing  the  expulsion,  or  at  least 
the  utter  destruction,  of  the  vanquished ;  but  his  efforts  were 
unavailing.  The  Salians  appear  to  have  figured  no  more  in 
this  part  of  the  Low  Countries. 

The  defeat  of  the  Salians  by  a  Saxon  tribe  is  a  fact  on 
which  no  doubt  rests.  The  name  of  the  victors  is,  however, 
questionable.  The  Varni  having  remained  settled  near  the 
mouths  of  the  Rhine  till  near  the  year  500,  there  is  strong 
probability  that  they  were  the  people  alluded  to.  But  names 
and  histories,  which  may  on  this  point  appear  of  such  little 
importance,  acquire  considerable  interest  when  we  reflect 
that  these  Salians,  driven  from  their  settlement,  became  the 
conquerors  of  France ;  that  those  Saxons  who  forced  them 
on  their  career  of  conquest  were  destined  to  become  the 
masters  of  England;  and  that  these  two  petty  tribes,  who 
battled  so  long  for  a  corner  of  marshy  earth,  carried  with 
them  their  reciprocal  antipathy  while  involuntarily  deciding 
the  destiny  of  Europe. 

The  defeat  of  the  Franks  was  fatal  to  those  peoples  who 
had  become  incorporated  with  the  Romans ;  for  it  was  from 
them  that  the  exiled  wanderers,  still  fierce  in  their  ruin,  and 
with  arms  in  their  hands,  demanded  lands  and  herds;  all, 
in  short,  which  they  themselves  had  lost.  From  the  middle 
of  the  fourth  century  to  the  end  of  the  fifth,  there  was  a  sue 
cession  of  invasions  in  this  spirit,  which  always  ended  by  the 
subjugation  of  a  part  of  the  country ;  and  which  was  com- 
pleted about  the  year  490,  by  Clovis  making  himself  master 
of  almost  the  whole  of  Gaul.  Under  this  new  empire  not 
a  vestige  of  the  ancient  nations  of  the  Ardennes  was  left. 
The  civilized  population  either  perished  or  was  reduced  to 
slavery,  and  all  the  high  grounds  were  added  to  the  previous 
conquests  of  the  Salians. 


30  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

But  the  maritime  population,  when  once  possessed  of  the 
whole  coast,  did  not  seek  to  make  the  slightest  progress 
toward  the  interior.  The  element  of  their  enterprise  and 
the  object  of  their  ambition  was  the  ocean ;  and  when  this 
hardy  and  intrepid  race  became  too  numerous  for  their  nar- 
row limits,  expeditions  and  colonies  beyond  the  sea  carried 
off  their  redundant  population.  The  Saxon  warriors  estab- 
lished themselves  near  the  mouths  of  the  Loire;  others, 
conducted  by  Hengist  and  Horsa,  settled  in  Great  Britain. 
It  will  always  remain  problematical  from  what  point  of  the 
coast  these  adventurers  departed;  but  many  circumstances 
tend  to  give  weight  to  the  opinion  which  pronounces  those 
old  Saxons  to  have  started  from  the  Netherlands. 

Paganism  not  being  yet  banished  from  these  countries, 
the  obscurity  which  would  have  enveloped  them  is  in  some 
degree  dispelled  by  the  recitals  of  the  monks  who  went 
among  them  to  preach  Christianity.  "We  see  in  those  records, 
and  by  the  text  of  some  of  their  early  laws,  that  this  mari- 
time people  were  more  industrious,  prosperous,  and  happy, 
than  those  of  France.  The  men  were  handsome  and  richly 
clothed;  and  the  land  well  cultivated,  and  abounding  in 
fruits,  milk,  and  honey.  The  Saxon  merchants  carried  their 
trade  far  into  the  southern  countries.  In  the  meantime,  the 
parts  of  the  Netherlands  which  belonged  to  France  resem- 
bled a  desert.  The  monasteries  which  were  there  founded 
were  established,  according  to  the  words  of  their  charters, 
amid  immense  solitudes;  and  the  French  nobles  only  came 
into  Brabant  for  the  sport  of  bear-hunting  in  its  interminable 
forests.  Thus,  while  the  inhabitants  of  the  low  lands,  as  far 
back  as  the  light  of  history  penetrates,  appear  in  a  continual 
state  of  improvement,  those  of  the  high  grounds,  after  fre- 
quent vicissitudes,  seem  to  sink  into  utter  degeneracy  and 
subjugation.  The  latter  wished  to  denaturalize  themselves, 
and  become  as  though  they  were  foreigners  even  on  their 
native  soil ;  the  former  remained  firm  and  faithful  to  their 
country  and  to  each  other. 

But  the  growth  of  French  power  menaced  utter  ruin  to 


TO    THE    SUBJUGATION    OF    FRIESLAND  31 

this  interesting  race.  Clovis  had  succeeded,  about  the  year 
485  of  our  era,  in  destroying  the  last  remnants  of  Roman 
domination  in  Gaul.  The  successors  of  these  conquerors 
soon  extended  their  empire  from  the  Pyrenees  to  the  Rhine. 
They  had  continual  contests  with  the  free  population  of 
the  Low  Countries,  and  their  nearest  neighbors.  In  the 
commencement  of  the  seventh  century,  the  French  king, 
Clotaire  II.,  exterminated  the  chief  part  of  the  Saxons  of 
Hanover  and  Westphalia;  and  the  historians  of  those  bar- 
barous times  unanimously  relate  that  he  caused  to  be  be- 
headed every  inhabitant  of  the  vanquished  tribes  who 
exceeded  the  height  of  his  sword.  The  Saxon  name  was 
thus  nearly  extinguished  in  those  countries ;  and  the  remnant 
of  these  various  peoples  adopted  that  of  Frisons  (Friesen), 
either  because  they  became  really  incorporated  with  that 
nation,  or  merely  that  they  recognized  it  for  the  most  power- 
ful of  their  tribes.  Friesland,  to  speak  in  the  language  of 
that  age,  extended  then  from  the  Scheldt  to  the  Weser,  and 
formed  a  considerable  state.  But  the  ascendency  of  France 
was  every  year  becoming  more  marked ;  and  King  Dagobert 
extended  the  limits  of  her  power  even  as  far  as  Utrecht. 
The  descendants  of  the  Menapians,  known  at  that  epoch  by 
the  different  names  of  Menapians,  Flemings,  and  Toxandi- 
rans,  fell  one  after  another  directly  or  indirectly  under  the 
empire  of  the  Merovingian  princes;  and  the  noblest  family 
which  existed  among  the  French — that  which  subsequently 
took  the  name  of  Carlovingians — comprised  in  its  dominions 
nearly  the  whole  of  the  southern  and  western  parts  of  the 
Netherlands. 

Between  this  family,  whose  chief  was  called  duke  of  the 
Frontier  Marshes  (Dux  Brabantice),  and  the  free  tribes, 
united  under  the  common  name  of  Frisons,  the  same  strug- 
gle was  maintained  as  that  which  formerly  existed  between 
the  Salians  and  the  Saxons.  Toward  the  year  700,  the 
French  monarchy  was  torn  by  anarchy,  and,  under  "the 
lazy  kings,"  lost  much  of  its  concentrated  power;  but  every 
dukedom  formed  an  independent  sovereignty,  and  of  all 


82  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

those  that  of  Brabant  was  the  most  redoubtable.  Neverthe- 
less the  Frisons,  under  their  king,  Radbod,  assumed  for  a 
moment  the  superiority;  and  Utrecht,  where  the  French 
had  established  Christianity,  fell  again  into  the  power  of  the 
pagans.  Charles  Martell,  at  that  time  young,  and  but  com- 
mencing his  splendid  career,  was  defeated  by  the  hostile 
king  in  the  forest  of  the  Ardennes;  and  though,  in  sub- 
sequent conquests,  he  took  an  ample  revenge,  Radbod  still 
remained  a  powerful  opponent.  It  is  related  of  this  fierce 
monarch  that  he  was  converted  by  a  Christian  missionary ; 
but,  at  the  moment  in  which  he  put  his  foot  in  the  water 
for  the  ceremony  of  baptism,  he  suddenly  asked  the  priest 
where  all  his  old  Frison  companions  in  arms  had  gone  after 
their  death?  "To  hell,"  replied  the  priest.  "Well,  then," 
said  Radbod,  drawing  back  his  foot  from  the  water,  "I 
would  rather  go  to  hell  with  them,  than  to  paradise  with 
you  and  your  fellow  foreigners!"  and  he  refused  to  receive 
the  rite  of  baptism,  and  remained  a  pagan. 

After  the  death  of  Radbod,  in  719,  Charles  Martell,  now 
become  duke  of  the  Franks,  mayor  of  the  palace,  or  by  what- 
ever other  of  his  several  titles  he  may  be  distinguished,  finally 
triumphed  over  the  long-resisting  Frisons.  He  labored  to 
establish  Christianity  among  them ;  but  they  did  not  under- 
stand the  French  language,  and  the  lot  of  converting  them 
was  consequently  reserved  for  the  English.  St.  Willebrod 
was  the  first  missionary  who  met  with  any  success,  about 
the  latter  end  of  the  seventh  century;  but  it  was  not  till 
toward  the  year  750  that  this  great  mission  was  finally 
accomplished  by  St.  Boniface,  archbishop  of  Mayence,  and 
the  apostle  of  Germany.  Yet  the  progress  of  Christianity, 
and  the  establishment  of  a  foreign  sway,  still  met  the  partial 
resistance  which  a  conquered  but  not  enervated  people  are 
always  capable  of  opposing  to  their  masters.  St.  Boniface 
fell  a  victim  to  this  stubborn  spirit.  He  perished  a  martyr 
to  his  zeal,  but  perhaps  a  victim  as  well  to  the  violent  meas- 
ures of  his  colleagues,  in  Friesland,  the  very  province  which 
to  this  day  preserves  the  name. 


TO    THE    SUBJUGATION    OF    FRIESLAND  33 

The  last  avenger  of  Friesland  liberty  and  of  the  national 
idols  was  the  illustrious  "Witikind,  to  whom  the  chronicles 
of  his  country  give  the  title  of  first  azing,  or  judge.  This 
intrepid  chieftain  is  considered  as  a  compatriot,  not  only  by 
the  historians  of  Friesland,  but  by  those  of  Saxony;  both, 
it  would  appear,  having  equal  claims  to  the  honor;  for  the 
union  between  the  two  peoples  was  constantly  strengthened 
by  intermarriages  between  the  noblest  families  of  each.  As 
long  as  Witikind  remained  a  pagan  and  a  freeman,  some 
doubt  existed  as  to  the  final  fate  of  Friesland ;  but  when  by 
his  conversion  he  became  only  a  noble  of  the  court  of  Charle- 
magne, the  slavery  of  his  country  was  consummated. 


CHAPTER  in 

FROM    THE    CONQUEST    OF    FRIESLAND    TO    THE    FORMATION 

OF    HOLLAND 

A.D.  800-1000 

EVEN  at  this  advanced  epoch  of  foreign  domination, 
there  remained  as  great  a  difference  as  ever  between 
the  people  of  the  high  grounds  and  the  inhabitants 
of  the  plain.  The  latter  were,  like  the  rest,  incorporated 
with  the  great  monarchy;  but  they  preserved  the  remem- 
brance of  former  independence,  and  even  retained  their 
ancient  names.  In  Flanders,  Menapians  and  Flemings  were 
still  found,  and  in  the  country  of  Antwerp  the  Toxandrians 
were  not  extinct.  All  the  rest  of  the  coast  was  still  called 
Friesland.  But  in  the  high  grounds  the  names  of  the  old 
inhabitants  were  lost.  Nations  were  designated  by  the 
names  of  their  rivers,  forests,  or  towns.  They  were  classi- 
fied as  accessories  to  inanimate  things;  and  having  no 
monuments  which  reminded  them  of  their  origin,  they  be- 
came as  it  were  without  recollections  or  associations;  and 
degenerated,  as  may  be  almost  said,  into  a  people  without 
ancestry. 

The  physical  state  of  the  country  had  greatly  changed 
from  the  times  of  Csesar  to  those  of  Charlemagne.  Many 
parts  of  the  forest  of  the  Ardennes  had  been  cut  down  or 
cleared  away.  Civilization  had  only  appeared  for  a  while 
among  these  woods,  to  perish  like  a  delicate  plant  in  an  un- 
genial  clime;  but  it  seemed  to  have  sucked  the  very  sap 
from  the  soil,  and  to  have  left  the  people  no  remains  of  the 
vigor  of  man  in  his  savage  state,  nor  of  the  desperate  cour- 
age of  the  warriors  of  Germany.  A  race  of  serfs  now  culti- 
(34) 


TO  THE  FORMATION  OF  HOLLAND        35 

vated  the  domains  of  haughty  lords  and  imperious  priests. 
The  clergy  had  immense  posessions  in  this  country;  an  act 
of  the  following  century  recognizes  fourteen  thousand  fam- 
ilies of  vassals  as  belonging  to  the  single  abbey  of  Nivelle. 
Tournay  and  Tongres,  both  Episcopal  cities,  were  by  that 
title  somewhat  less  oppressed  than  the  other  ancient  towns 
founded  by  the  Romans;  but  they  appear  to  have  possessed 
only  a  poor  and  degraded  population. 

The  low  lands,  on  the  other  hand,  announced  a  striking 
commencement  of  improvement  and  prosperity.  The  marshes 
and  fens,  which  had  arrested  and  repulsed  the  progress  of 
imperial  Rome,  had  disappeared  in  every  part  of  the  interior. 
The  Meuse  and  the  Scheldt  no  longer  joined  at  their  outlets, 
to  desolate  the  neighboring  lands;  whether  this  change  was 
produced  by  the  labors  of  man,  or  merely  by  the  accumula- 
tion of  sand  deposited  by  either  stream  and  forming  barriers 
to  both.  The  towns  of  Courtraig,  Bruges,  Ghent,  Antwerp, 
Berg-op-Zoom,  and  Thiel,  had  already  a  flourishing  trade. 
The  last-mentioned  town  contained  in  the  following  century 
fifty-five  churches;  a  fact  from  which,  in  the  absence  of 
other  evidence,  the  extent  of  the  population  may  be  conjec- 
tured. The  formation  of  dikes  for  the  protection  of  lands 
formerly  submerged  was  already  well  understood,  and  regu- 
lated by  uniform  custom.  The  plains  thus  reconquered  from 
the  waters  were  distributed  in  portions,  according  to  their 
labor,  by  those  who  reclaimed  them,  except  the  parts  re- 
served for  the  chieftain,  the  church,  and  the  poor.  This 
vital  necessity  for  the  construction  of  dikes  had  given  to 
the  Frison  and  Flemish  population  a  particular  habit  of 
union,  goodwill,  and  reciprocal  justice,  because  it  was  neces- 
sary to  make  common  cause  in  this  great  work  for  their  mu- 
tual preservation.  In  all  other  points,  the  detail  of  the  laws 
and  manners  of  this  united  people  presents  a  picture  similar 
to  that  of  the  Saxons  of  England,  with  the  sole  exception 
that  the  people  of  the  Netherlands  were  milder  than  the 
Saxon  race  properly  so  called — their  long  habit  of  laborious 
industry  exercising  its  happy  influence  on  the  martial  spirit 


3G  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

original  to  both.  The  manufacturing  arts  were  also  some- 
what more  advanced  in  this  part  of  the  continent  than  in 
Great  Britain.  The  Frisons,  for  example,  were  the  only 
people  who  could  succeed  in  making  the  costly  mantles  in 
use  among  the  wealthy  Franks. 

The  government  of  Charlemagne  admitted  but  one  form, 
borrowed  from  that  of  the  empire  in  the  period  of  its  decline 
— a  mixture  of  the  spiritual  and  temporal  powers,  exercised 
in  the  first  place  by  the  emperor,  and  at  second-hand  by  the 
counts  and  bishops.  The  counts  in  those  times  were  not 
the  heads  of  noble  families,  as  they  afterward  became,  but 
officers  of  the  government,  removable  at  will,  and  possessing 
no  hereditary  rights.  Their  incomes  did  not  arise  from  sal- 
aries paid  in  money,  but  consisted  of  lands,  of  which  they 
had  the  revenues  during  the  continuance  of  their  authority. 
These  lands  being  situated  in  the  limits  of  their  administra- 
tion, each  regarded  them  as  his  property  only  for  the  time 
being,  and  considered  himself  as  a  tenant  at  will.  How 
unfavorable  such  a  system  was  to  culture  and  improvement 
may  be  well  imagined.  The  force  of  possession  was,  how- 
ever, frequently  opposed  to  the  seigniorial  rights  of  the 
crown;  and  thus,  though  all  civil  dignity  and  the  reve- 
nues attached  to  it  were  but  personal  and  reclaimable  at 
will,  still  many  dignitaries,  taking  advantage  of  the  bar- 
barous state  of  the  country  in  which  their  isolated  cantons 
were  placed,  sought  by  every  possible  means  to  render  their 
power  and  prerogatives  inalienable  and  real.  The  force  of 
the  monarchical  government,  which  consists  mainly  in  its 
centralization,  was  necessarily  weakened  by  the  intervention 
of  local  obstacles,  before  it  could  pass  from  the  heart  of  the 
empire  to  its  limits.  Thus  it  was  only  by  perpetually  inter- 
posing his  personal  efforts,  and  flying,  as  it  were,  from  one 
end  to  the  other  of  his  dominions,  that  Charlemagne  suc- 
ceeded in  preserving  his  authority.  As  for  the  people,  with- 
out any  sort  of  guarantee  against  the  despotism  of  the  gov- 
ernment, they  were  utterly  at  the  mercy  of  the  nobles  or  of 
the  sovereign.  But  this  state  of  servitude  was  quite  incom- 


TO  THE  FORMATION  OF  HOLLAND         37 

patible  with  the  union  of  social  powers  necessary  to  a  popu- 
lation that  had  to  struggle  against  the  tyranny  of  the  ocean. 
To  repulse  its  attacks  with  successful  vigor,  a  spirit  of  com- 
plete concert  was  absolutely  required;  and  the  nation  being 
thus  united,  and  consequently  strong,  the  efforts  of  foreign 
tyrants  were  shattered  by  its  resistance,  as  the  waves  of  the 
sea  that  broke  against  the  dikes  by  which  it  was  defied. 

From  the  time  of  Charlemagne,  the  people  of  the  ancient 
Menapia,  now  become  a  prosperous  commonwealth,  formed 
political  associations  to  raise  a  barrier  against  the  despotic 
violence  of  the  Franks.  These  associations  were  called  Gil- 
den,  and  in  the  Latin  of  the  times  Gildonia.  They  com- 
prised, besides  their  covenants  for  mutual  protection,  an 
obligation  which  bound  every  member  to  give  succor  to  any 
other,  in  cases  of  illness,  conflagration,  or  shipwreck.  But 
the  growing  force  of  these  social  compacts  alarmed  the 
quick-sighted  despotism  of  Charlemagne,  and  they  were, 
consequently,  prohibited  both  by  him  and  his  successors. 
To  give  a  notion  of  the  importance  of  this  prohibition  to 
the  whole  of  Europe,  it  is  only  necessary  to  state  that  the 
most  ancient  corporations  (all  which  had  preceded  and  en- 
gendered the  most  valuable  municipal  rights)  were  nothing 
more  than  gilden.  Thus,  to  draw  an  example  from  Great 
Britain,  the  corporative  charter  of  Berwick  still  bears  the 
title  of  Charta  Gildoniae.  But  the  ban  of  the  sovereigns  was 
without  efficacy,  when  opposed  to  the  popular  will.  The 
gilden  stood  their  ground,  and  within  a  century  after  the 
death  of  Charlemagne,  all  Flanders  was  covered  with  corpo- 
rate towns. 

This  popular  opposition  took,  however,  another  form  in 
the  northern  parts  of  the  country,  which  still  bore  the  com- 
mon name  of  Friesland ;  for  there  it  was  not  merely  local  but 
national.  The  Frisons  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  sanction 
of  the  monarch  to  consecrate,  as  it  were,  those  rights  which 
were  established  under  the  ancient  forms  of  government. 
The  fact  is  undoubted ;  but  the  means  which  they  employed 
are  uncertain.  It  appears  most  probable  that  this  great  priv- 


38  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

ilege  was  the  price  of  their  military  services ;  for  they  held  a 
high  place  in  the  victorious  armies  of  Charlemagne;  and 
Turpin,  the  old  French  romancer,  alluding  to  the  popular 
traditions  of  his  time,  represents  the  warriors  of  Friesland 
as  endowed  with  the  most  heroic  valor. 

These  rights,  which  the  Frisons  secured,  according  to 
their  own  statements,  from  Charlemagne,  but  most  un- 
doubtedly from  some  one  or  other  of  the  earliest  emperors, 
consisted,  first,  in  the  freedom  of  every  order  of  citizens; 
secondly,  in  the  right  of  property— a  right  which  admitted 
no  authority  of  the  sovereign  to  violate  by  confiscation,  ex- 
cept hi  cases  of  downright  treason ;  thirdly,  in  the  privilege 
of  trial  by  none  but  native  judges,  and  according  to  their 
national  usages ;  fourthly,  in  a  very  narrow  limitation  of  the 
military  services  which  they  owed  to  the  king ;  fifthly,  in  the 
hereditary  title  to  feudal  property,  in  direct  line,  on  payment 
of  certain  dues  or  rents.  These  five  principal  articles  sufficed 
to  render  Friesland,  in  its  political  aspect,  totally  different 
from  the  other  portions  of  the  monarchy.  Their  privileges 
secured,  their  property  inviolable,  their  duties  limited,  the 
Frisons  were  altogether  free  from  the  servitude  which 
weighed  down  France.  It  will  soon  be  seen  that  these 
special  advantages  produced  a  government  nearly  analo- 
gous to  that  which  Magna  Charta  was  the  means  of  found- 
ing at  a  later  period  in  England. 

The  successors  of  Charlemagne  chiefly  signalized  their 
authority  by  lavishing  donations  of  all  kinds  on  the  church. 
By  such  means  the  ecclesiastical  power  became  greater  and 
greater,  and,  in  those  countries  under  the  sway  of  France, 
was  quite  as  arbitrary  and  enormous  as  that  of  the  nobility. 
The  bishops  of  Utrecht,  Liege,  and  Tournay,  became,  in  the 
course  of  time,  the  chief  personages  on  that  line  of  the  fron- 
tier. They  had  the  great  advantage  over  the  counts,  of  not 
being  subjected  to  capricious  or  tyrannical  removals.  They 
therefore,  even  in  civil  affairs,  played  a  more  considerable 
part  than  the  latter ;  and  began  to  render  themselves  more 
and  more  independent  in  their  episcopal  cities,  which  were 


TO   THE   FORMATION   OF   HOLLAND  39 

Boon  to  become  so  many  principalities.  The  counts,  on  their 
parts,  used  their  best  exertions  to  wear  out,  if  they  had  not 
the  strength  to  break,  the  chains  which  bound  them  to  the 
footstool  of  the  monarch.  They  were  not  all  now  dependent 
on  the  same  sovereign ;  for  the  empire  of  Charlemagne  was 
divided  among  his  successors:  France,  properly  so  called, 
was  bounded  by  the  Scheldt;  the  country  to  the  eastward 
of  that  river,  that  is  to  say,  nearly  the  whole  of  the  Nether- 
lands, belonged  to  Lorraine  and  Germany. 

In  the  state  of  things,  it  happened  that  in  the  year  864, 
Judith,  daughter  of  Charles  the  Bald,  king  of  France,  having 
survived  her  husband  Ethelwolf,  king  of  England,  became 
attached  to  a  powerful  Flemish  chieftain  called  Baldwin.  It 
is  not  quite  certain  whether  he  was  count,  forester,  marquis, 
or  protector  of  the  frontiers;  but  he  certainly  enjoyed,  no 
matter  under  what  title,  considerable  authority  in  the  coun- 
try; since  the  pope  on  one  occasion  wrote  to  Charles  the 
Bald  to  beware  of  offending  him,  lest  he  should  join  the 
Normans,  and  open  to  them  an  entrance  into  France.  He 
carried  off  Judith  to  his  possessions  in  Flanders.  The  king, 
her  father,  after  many  ineffectual  threats,  was  forced  to  con- 
sent to  their  union ;  and  confirmed  to  Baldwin,  with  the  title 
of  count,  the  hereditary  government  of  all  the  country  be- 
tween the  Scheldt  and  the  Somme,  a  river  of  Picardy.  This 
was  the  commencement  of  the  celebrated  county  of  Flanders; 
and  this  Baldwin  is  designated  in  history  by  the  surname  of 
Bras-de-fer  (iron-handed),  to  which  his  courage  had  justly 
entitled  him. 

The  Belgian  historians  are  also  desirous  of  placing  about 
this  epoch  the  first  counts  of  Hainault,  and  even  of  Holland. 
But  though  it  may  be  true  that  the  chief  families  of  each 
canton  sought  then,  as  at  all  times,  to  shake  off  the  yoke, 
the  epoch  of  their  independence  can  only  be  fixed  at  the  later 
period  at  which  they  obtained  or  enforced  the  privilege  of  not 
being  deprived  of  their  titles  and  their  feudal  estates.  The 
counts  of  the  high  grounds,  and  those  of  Friesland,  enjoyed 
at  the  utmost  but  a  fortuitous  privilege  of  continuance  in 


40  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

their  rank.  Several  foreigners  had  gained  a  footing  and  an 
authority  in  the  country;  among  others  Wickmand,  from 
whom  descended  the  chatelains  of  Ghent;  and  the  counts 
of  Holland,  and  Heriold,  a  Norman  prince  who  had  been 
banished  from  his  own  country.  This  name  of  Normans, 
hardly  known  before  the  time  of  Charlemagne,  soon  became 
too  celebrated.  It  designated  the  pagan  inhabitants  of  Den- 
mark, Norway,  and  Sweden,  who,  driven  by  rapacity  and 
want,  infested  the  neighboring  seas.  The  asylum  allowed 
in  the  dominions  of  the  emperors  to  some  of  those  exiled 
outlaws,  and  the  imprudent  provocations  given  by  these 
latter  to  their  adventurous  countrymen,  attracted  various 
bands  of  Norman  pirates  to  the  shores  of  Guelders;  and 
from  desultory  descents  upon  the  coast,  they  soon  came  to 
inundate  the  interior  of  the  country.  Flanders  alone  suc- 
cessfully resisted  them  during  the  life  of  Baldwin  Bras-de- 
fer; but  after  the  death  of  this  brave  chieftain  there  was 
not  a  province  of  the  whole  country  that  was  not  ravaged 
by  these  invaders.  Their  multiplied  expeditions  threw 
back  the  Netherlands  at  least  two  centuries,  if,  indeed, 
any  calculation  of  the  kind  may  be  fairly  formed  respect- 
ing the  relative  state  of  population  and  improvement  on  the 
imperfect  data  that  are  left  us.  Several  cantons  became 
deserted.  The  chief  cities  were  reduced  to  heaps  of  ruins. 
The  German  emperors  vainly  interposed  for  the  relief  of 
their  unfortunate  vassals.  Finally,  an  agreement  was  en- 
tered into,  in  the  year  882,  with  Godfrey  the  king  or  leader 
of  the  Normans,  by  which  a  peace  was  purchased  on  condi- 
tion of  paying  him  a  large  subsidy,  and  ceding  to  him  the 
government  of  Friesland.  But,  in  about  two  years  from 
this  period,  the  fierce  barbarian  began  to  complain  that  the 
country  he  had  thus  gained  did  not  produce  grapes,  and  the 
present  inspiration  of  his  rapacity  seemed  to  be  the  blooming 
vineyards  of  France.  The  emperor  Charles  the  Fat,  antici- 
pating the  consequence  of  a  rupture  with  Godfrey,  enticed 
him  to  an  interview,  in  which  he  caused  him  to  be  assassi- 
nated. His  followers,  attacked  on  all  points  by  the  people  of 


TO   THE   FORMATION   OF   HOLLAND  41 

Friesland,  perished  almost  to  a  man;  and  their  destruction 
was  completed,  in  891,  by  Arnoul  the  Germanic.  From  that 
period,  the  scourge  of  Norman  depredation  became  gradually 
less  felt.  They  now  made  but  short  and  desultory  attempts 
on  the  coast ;  and  their  last  expedition  appears  to  have  taken 
place  about  the  year  1000,  when  they  threatened,  but  did  not 
succeed  in  seizing  on,  the  city  of  Utrecht. 

It  is  remarkable  that,  although  for  the  space  of  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  the  Netherlands  were  continually  the 
scene  of  invasion  and  devastation  by  these  northern  barba- 
rians, the  political  state  of  the  country  underwent  no  impor- 
tant changes.  The  emperors  of  Germany  were  sovereigns 
of  the  whole  country,  with  the  exception  of  Flanders. 
These  portions  of  the  empire  were  still  called  Lorraine,  as 
well  as  all  which  they  possessed  of  what  is  now  called 
France,  and  which  was  that  part  forming  the  appanage  of 
Lothaire  and  of  the  Lotheringian  kings.  The  great  diffi- 
culty of  maintaining  subordination  among  the  numerous 
chieftains  of  this  country  caused  it,  in  958,  to  be  divided 
into  two  governments,  which  were  called  Higher  and  Lower 
Lorraine.  The  latter  portion  comprised  nearly  the  whole  of 
the  Netherlands,  which  thus  became  governed  by  a  lieu- 
tenant of  the  emperors.  Godfrey  count  of  Ardenne  was  the 
first  who  filled  this  place ;  and  he  soon  felt  all  the  perils  of 
the  situation.  The  other  counts  saw,  with  a  jealous  eye, 
their  equal  now  promoted  into  a  superior.  Two  of  the  most 
powerful,  Lambert  and  Reginald,  were  brothers.  They 
made  common  cause  against  the  new  duke;  and  after  a 
desperate  struggle,  which  did  not  cease  till  the  year  985, 
they  gained  a  species  of  imperfect  independence — Lambert 
becoming  the  root  from  which  sprang  the  counts  of  Lou- 
vain,  and  Reginald  that  of  the  counts  of  Hainault. 

The  emperor  Othon  II.,  who  upheld  the  authority  of  his 
lieutenant,  Godfrey,  became  convinced  that  the  imperial 
power  was  too  weak  to  resist  singly  the  opposition  of  the 
nobles  of  the  country.  He  had  therefore  transferred,  about 
the  year  980,  the  title  of  duke  to  a  young  prince  of  the  royal 


42  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

house  of  France ;  and  we  thus  see  the  duchy  of  Lower  Lor- 
raine governed,  in  the  name  of  the  emperor,  by  the  last 
two  shoots  of  the  branch  of  Charlemagne,  the  dukes 
Charles  and  Othon  of  France,  son  and  grandson  of  Louis 
d'Outremer.  The  first  was  a  gallant  prince:  he  may  be 
looked  on  as  the  founder  of  the  greatness  of  Brussels, 
where  he  fixed  his  residence.  After  several  years  of  tran- 
quil government,  the  death  of  his  brother  called  him  to 
the  throne  of  France ;  and  from  that  time  he  bravely  con- 
tended for  the  crown  of  his  ancestors,  against  the  usurpa- 
tion of  Hugues  Capet,  whom  he  frequently  defeated  in 
battle;  but  he  was  at  length  treacherously  surprised  and 
put  to  death  in  990.  Othon,  his  son,  did  not  signalize  his 
name  nor  justify  his  descent  by  any  memorable  action; 
and  in  him  ingloriously  perished  the  name  of  the  Carlo- 
vingians. 

The  death  of  Othon  set  the  emperor  and  the  great  vas- 
sals once  more  in  opposition.  The  German  monarch  in- 
sisted on  naming  some  creature  of  his  own  to  the  dignity  of 
duke;  but  Lambert  II.,  count  of  Louvain,  and  Robert, 
count  of  Namur,  having  married  the  sisters  of  Othon,  re- 
spectively claimed  the  right  of  inheritance  to  his  title. 
Baldwin  of  the  comely  beard,  count  of  Flanders,  joined 
himself  to  their  league,  hoping  to  extend  his  power  to  the 
eastward  of  the  Scheldt.  And,  in  fact,  the  emperor,  as 
the  only  means  of  disuniting  his  two  powerful  vassals,  felt 
himself  obliged  to  cede  Valenciennes  and  the  islands  of 
Zealand  to  Baldwin.  The  imperial  power  thus  lost  ground 
at  every  struggle. 

Amid  the  confusion  of  these  events,  a  power  well  cal- 
culated to  rival  or  even  supplant  that  of  the  fierce  counts 
was  growing  up.  Many  circumstances  were  combined  to 
extend  and  consolidate  the  episcopal  sway.  It  is  true  that 
the  bishops  of  Tournay  had  no  temporal  authority  since 
the  period  of  their  city  being  ruined  by  the  Normans. 
But  those  of  Liege  and  Utrecht,  and  more  particularly 
the  latter,  had  accumulated  immense  possessions;  and 


TO    THE    FORMATION    OF    HOLLAND  43 

their  power  being  inalienable,  they  had  nothing  to  fear 
from  the  caprices  of  sovereign  favor,  which  so  often  ruined 
the  families  of  the  aristocracy.  Those  bishops,  who  were 
warriors  and  huntsmen  rather  than  ecclesiastics,  possessed, 
however,  in  addition  to  the  lance  and  the  sword,  the  ter- 
rible artillery  of  excommunication  and  anathema,  which 
they  thundered  forth  without  mercy  against  every  laic 
opponent;  and  when  they  had,  by  conquest  or  treachery, 
acquired  new  dominions  and  additional  store  of  wealth, 
they  could  not  portion  it  among  their  children,  like  the 
nobles,  but  it  devolved  to  their  successors,  who  thus  be- 
came more  and  more  powerful,  and  gained  by  degrees  an 
authority  almost  royal,  like  that  of  the  ecclesiastical  elector 
of  Germany. 

"Whenever  the  emperor  warred  against  his  lay  vassals, 
he  was  sure  of  assistance  from  the  bishops,  because  they 
were  at  all  times  jealous  of  the  power  of  the  counts,  and 
had  much  less  to  gain  from  an  alliance  with  them  than 
with  the  imperial  despots  on  whose  donations  they  throve, 
and  who  repaid  their  efforts  by  new  privileges  and  ex- 
tended possessions.  So  that  when  the  monarch,  at  length, 
lost  the  superiority  in  his  contests  with  the  counts,  little 
was  wanting  to  make  his  authority  be  merged  altogether 
in  the  overgrown  power  of  these  churchmen.  Neverthe- 
less, a  first  effort  of  the  bishop  of  Liege  to  seize  on  the 
rights  of  the  count  of  Louvain  in  1013  met  with  a  signal 
defeat,  in  a  battle  which  took  place  at  the  little  village  of 
Stongarde.  And  five  years  later,  the  count  of  the  Fries- 
land  marshes  (comes  Frisonum  Morsatenorum)  gave  a 
still  more  severe  lesson  to  the  bishop  of  Utrecht.  This 
last  merits  a  more  particular  mention,  from  the  nature  of 
the  quarrel  and  the  importance  of  its  results. 


CHAPTER  IV 

FROM   THE   FORMATION    OF    HOLLAND   TO   THE   DEATH 
OF    LOUIS    DE    MALE 

A.D.  1018—1384 

THE  district  in  which  Dordrecht  is  situated,  and  the 
grounds  in  its  environs  which  are  at  present  sub- 
merged, formed  in  those  times  an  island  just  raised 
above  the  waters,  and  which  was  called  Holland  or  Holt- 
land  (which  means  wooded  land,  or,  according  to  some, 
hollow  land).  The  formation  of  this  island,  or  rather  its 
recovery  from  the  waters,  being  only  of  recent  date,  the 
right  to  its  possession  was  more  disputable  than  that  of 
long-established  countries.  All  the  bishops  and  abbots 
whose  states  bordered  the  Rhine  and  the  Meuse  had,  be- 
ing equally  covetous  and  grasping,  and  mutually  resolved 
to  pounce  on  the  prey,  made  it  their  common  property. 
A  certain  Count  Thierry,  descended  from  the  counts  of 
Ghent,  governed  about  this  period  the  western  extremity 
of  Friesland — the  country  which  now  forms  the  province 
of  Holland ;  and  with  much  difficulty  maintained  his  power 
against  the  Frisons,  by  whom  his  right  was  not  acknowl- 
edged. Beaten  out  of  his  own  territories  by  these  refrac- 
tory insurgents,  he  sought  refuge  in  the  ecclesiastical  isl- 
and, where  he  intrenched  himself,  and  founded  a  town 
which  is  believed  to  have  been  the  origin  of  Dordrecht. 
This  Count  Thierry,  like  all  the  feudal  lords,  took  ad- 
vantage of  his  position  to  establish  and  levy  certain  duties 
on  ail  the  vessels  which  sailed  past  his  territory,  dispos- 
sessing in  the  meantime  some  vassals  of  the  church,  and 
beating,  as  we  have  stated,  the  bishop  of  Utrecht  himself. 
(44) 


TO   THE    DEATH   OF   LOUIS    DE   MALE  45 

Complaints  and  appeals  without  number  were  laid  at  the 
foot  of  the  imperial  throne.  Godfrey  of  Eenham,  whom 
the  emperor  had  created  duke  of  Lower  Lorraine,  was 
commanded  to  call  the  whole  country  to  arms.  The 
bishop  of  Liege,  though  actually  dying,  put  himself  at 
the  head  of  the  expedition,  to  revenge  his  brother  prel- 
ate, and  punish  the  audacious  spoiler  of  the  church  prop- 
erty. But  Thierry  and  his  iierce  Frisons  took  Godfrey 
prisoner,  and  cut  his  army  in  pieces.  The  victor  had  the 
good  sense  and  moderation  to  spare  his  prisoners,  and  set 
them  free  without  ransom.  He  received  in  return  an  im- 
perial amnesty;  and  from  that  period  the  count  of  Hol- 
land and  his  posterity  formed  a  barrier  against  which  the 
ecclesiastical  power  and  the  remains  of  the  imperial  su- 
premacy continually  struggled,  to  be  only  shattered  in 
each  new  assault.  John  Egmont,  an  old  chronicler,  says 
that  the  counts  of  Holland  were  "a  sword  in  the  flanks 
of  the  bishops  of  Utrecht." 

As  the  partial  independence  of  the  great  vassals  became 
consolidated,  the  monarchs  were  proportionally  anxious  to 
prevent  its  perpetuation  in  the  same  families.  In  pursu- 
ance of  this  system,  Godfrey  of  Eenham  obtained  the  pref- 
erence over  the  Counts  Lambert  and  Robert ;  and  Frederick 
of  Luxemburg  was  named  duke  of  Lower  Lorraine  in  1046, 
instead  of  a  second  Godfrey,  who  was  nephew  and  expect- 
ant heir  to  the  first.  But  this  Godfrey,  upheld  by  Baldwin 
of  Flanders,  forced  the  emperor  to  concede  to  him  the  in- 
heritance of  the  dukedom.  Baldwin  secured  for  his  share 
the  country  of  Alost  and  Waas,  and  the  citadel  of  Ghent ; 
and  he  also  succeeded  in  obtaining  in  marriage  for  his  son 
the  Countess  Richilde,  heiress  of  Hainault  and  Namur. 
Thus  was  Flanders  incessantly  gaining  new  aggrandize- 
ment, while  the  duchy  of  Lorraine  was  crumbling  away 
on  every  side. 

In  the  year  1066  this  state  of  Flanders,  even  then  flour- 
ishing and  powerful,  furnished  assistance,  both  in  men  and 
ships,  to  William  the  Bastard  of  Normandy,  for  the  con- 


46  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS 

quest  of  England.  "William  was  son-in-law  to  Count  Bald- 
win, and  recompensed  the  assistance  of  his  wife's  father  by 
an  annual  payment  of  three  hundred  silver  marks.  It  was 
Mathilda,  the  Flemish  princess  and  wife  of  the  conqueror, 
who  worked  with  her  own  hands  the  celebrated  tapestry 
of  Bayeux,  on  which  is  embroidered  the  whole  history  of 
the  conquest,  and  which  is  the  most  curious  monument 
of  the  state  of  the  arts  in  that  age. 

Flanders  acquired  a  positive  and  considerable  superior- 
ity over  all  the  other  parts  of  the  Netherlands,  from  the 
first  establishment  of  its  counts  or  earls.  The  descendants 
of  Baldwin  Bras-de-fer,  after  having  valiantly  repulsed 
the  Normans  toward  the  end  of  the  ninth  century,  showed 
themselves  worthy  of  ruling  over  an  industrious  and  ener- 
getic people.  They  had  built  towns,  cut  down  and  cleared 
away  forests,  and  reclaimed  inundated  lands:  above  all 
things,  they  had  understood  and  guarded  against  the  dan- 
ger of  parcelling  out  their  states  at  every  succeeding  gen- 
eration; and  the  county  of  Flanders  passed  entire  into  the 
hands  of  the  first-born  of  the  family.  The  stability  pro- 
duced by  this  state  of  things  had  allowed  the  people  to 
prosper.  The  Normans  now  visited  the  coasts,  not  as  ene- 
mies, but  as  merchants;  and  Bruges  became  the  mart  of 
the  booty  acquired  by  these  bold  pirates  in  England  and 
on  the  high  seas.  The  fisheries  had  begun  to  acquire  an 
importance  sufficient  to  establish  the  herring  as  one  of  the 
chief  aliments  of  the  population.  Maritime  commerce  had 
made  such  strides  that  Spain  and  Portugal  were  well  known 
to  both  sailors  and  traders,  and  the  voyage  from  Flanders 
to  Lisbon  was  estimated  at  fifteen  days'  sail.  "Woollen 
stuffs  formed  the  principal  wealth  of  the  country ;  but  salt, 
corn,  and  jewelry  were  also  important  branches  of  traffic ; 
while  the  youth  of  Flanders  were  so  famous  for  their  excel- 
lence in  all  martial  pursuits  that  foreign  sovereigns  were 
at  all  times  desirous  of  obtaining  bodies  of  troops  from  this 
nation. 

The  greatest  part  of  Flanders  was  attached,  as  has  b 


TO    THE    DEATH    OF   LOUIS    DE    MALE  47 

seen,  to  the  king  of  France,  and  not  to  Lorraine;  but  the 
dependence  was  little  more  than  nominal.  In  1071  the 
king  of  France  attempted  to  exercise  his  authority  over 
the  country,  by  naming  to  the  government  the  same  Count- 
ess Richilde  who  had  received  Hainault  and  Namur  for  her 
dower,  and  who  was  left  a  widow,  with  sons  still  in  their 
minority.  The  people  assembled  in  the  principal  towns, 
and  protested  against  this  intervention  of  the  French  mon- 
arch. But  we  must  remark  that  it  was  only  the  popula- 
tion of  the  low  lands  (whose  sturdy  ancestors  had  ever 
resisted  foreign  domination)  that  now  took  part  in  this  op- 
position. The  vassals  which  the  counts  of  Flanders  pos- 
sessed in  the  Gallic  provinces  (the  high  grounds),  and  in 
general  all  the  nobility,  pronounced  strongly  for  submis- 
sion to  France;  for  the  principles  of  political  freedom  had 
not  yet  been  fixed  in  the  minds  of  the  inhabitants  of  those 
parts  of  the  country.  But  the  lowlanders  joined  together 
under  Robert,  surnamed  the  Frison,  brother  of  the  de- 
ceased count ;  and  they  so  completely  defeated  the  French, 
the  nobles  and  their  unworthy  associates  of  the  high  ground, 
that  they  despoiled  the  usurping  Countess  Richilde  of  even 
her  hereditary  possessions.  In  this  war  perished  the  cele- 
brated Norman,  William  Fitz-Osborn,  who  had  flown  to 
the  succor  of  the  defeated  countess,  of  whom  he  was 
enamored. 

Robert  the  Frison,  not  satisfied  with  having  beaten  the 
king  of  France  and  the  bishop  of  Liege,  reinstated  in  1076 
the  grandson  of  Thierry  of  Holland  in  the  possessions  which 
had  been  forced  from  him  by  the  duke  of  Lower  Lorraine, 
in  the  name  of  the  emperor  and  the  bishop  of  Utrecht;  so 
that  it  was  this  valiant  chieftain,  who,  above  all  others,  is 
entitled  to  the  praise  of  having  successfully  opposed  the 
system  of  foreign  domination  on  all  the  principal  points  of 
the  country.  Four  years  later,  Othon  of  Nassau  was  the 
first  to  unite  in  one  county  the  various  cantons  of  Guelders. 
Finally,  in  1086,  Henry  of  Louvain,  the  direct  descendant 
of  Lambert,  joined  to  his  title  that  of  count  of  Brabant; 


48  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

and  from  this  period  the  country  was  partitioned  pretty 
nearly  as  it  was  destined  to  remain  for  several  centuries. 

In  the  midst  of  this  gradual  organization  of  the  various 
counties,  history  for  some  time  loses  sight  of  those  Frisons, 
the  maritime  people  of  the  north,  who  took  little  part  in  the 
civil  wars  of  two  centuries.  But  still  there  was  no  portion 
of  Europe  which  at  that  time  offered  a  finer  picture  of  social 
improvement  than  these  damp  and  unhealthy  coasts.  The 
name  of  Frisons  extended  from  the  Weser  to  the  westward 
of  the  Zuyder  Zee,  but  not  quite  to  the  Rhine;  and  it  be- 
came usual  to  consider  no  longer  as  Frisons  the  subjects  of 
the  counts  of  Holland,  whom  we  may  now  begin  to  distin- 
guish as  Hollanders  or  Dutch.  The  Frison  race  alone  re- 
fused to  recognize  the  sovereign  counts.  They  boasted  of 
being  self-governed;  owning  no  allegiance  but  to  the  em- 
peror, and  regarding  the  counts  of  his  nomination  as  so 
many  officers  charged  to  require  obedience  to  the  laws  of 
the  country,  but  themselves  obliged  hi  all  things  to  respect 
them.  But  the  counts  of  Holland,  the  bishops  of  Utrecht, 
and  several  German  lords,  dignified  from  time  to  time  with 
the  title  of  counts  of  Friesland,  insisted  that  it  carried  with 
it  a  personal  authority  superior  to  that  of  the  sovereign  they 
represented.  The  descendants  of  the  Count  Thierry,  a  race 
of  men  remarkably  warlike,  were  the  most  violent  hi  this 
assumption  of  power.  Defeat  after  defeat,  however,  pun- 
ished then*  obstinacy;  and  numbers  of  those  princes  met 
death  on  the  pikes  of  their  Frison  opponents.  The  latter 
had  no  regular  leaders ;  but  at  the  approach  of  the  enemy 
the  inhabitants  of  each  canton  flew  to  arms,  like  the  mem- 
bers of  a  single  family ;  and  all  the  feudal  forces  brought 
against  them  failed  to  subdue  this  popular  militia. 

The  frequent  result  of  these  collisions  was  the  refusal  of 
the  Frisons  to  recognize  any  authority  whatever  but  that 
of  the  national  judges.  Each  canton  was  governed  accord- 
ing to  its  own  laws.  If  a  difficulty  arose,  the  deputies  of 
the  nation  met  together  on  the  borders  of  the  Ems,  in  a 
place  called  "the  Trees  of  Upstal"  (Upstall-boomen),  where 


TO   THE    DEATH   OF   LOUIS    DE   MALE  49 

three  old  oaks  stood  in  the  middle  of  an  immense  plain.  In 
this  primitive  council-place  chieftains  were  chosen,  who,  on 
swearing  to  maintain  the  laws  and  oppose  the  common 
enemy,  were  invested  with  a  limited  and  temporary  au- 
thority. 

It  does  not  appear  that  Friesland  possessed  any  large 
towns,  with  the  exception  of  Staveren.  In  this  respect  the 
Frisons  resembled  those  ancient  Germans  who  had  a  horror 
of  shutting  themselves  up  within  walls.  They  lived  in  a 
way  completely  patriarchal;  dwelling  in  isolated  cabins, 
and  with  habits  of  the  utmost  frugality.  We  read  in  one 
of  their  old  histories  that  a  whole  convent  of  Benedictines 
was  terrified  at  the  voracity  of  a  German  sculptor  who  was 
repairing  their  chapel.  They  implored  him  to  look  else- 
where for  his  food;  for  that  he  and  his  sons  consumed 
enough  to  exhaust  the  whole  stock  of  the  monastery. 

In  no  part  of  Europe  was  the  good  sense  of  the  people 
so  effectively  opposed  to  the  unreasonable  practices  of 
Catholicism  in  those  days.  The  Frisons  successfully  re- 
sisted the  payment  of  tithes;  and  as  a  punishment  (if  the 
monks  are  to  be  believed)  the  sea  inflicted  upon  them  re- 
peated inundations.  They  forced  their  priests  to  marry, 
saying  that  the  man  who  had  no  wife  necessarily  sought 
for  the  wife  of  another.  They  acknowledged  no  ecclesias- 
tical decree,  if  secular  judges,  double  the  number  of  the 
priests,  did  not  bear  a  part  in  it.  Thus  the  spirit  of  liberty 
burst  forth  in  all  their  proceedings,  and  they  were  justified 
in  calling  themselves  Vri-Vriesen,  Free-Frisons. 

No  nation  is  more  interested  than  England  hi  the  exam- 
ination of  all  that  concerns  this  remote  corner  of  Europe,  so 
resolute  in  its  opposition  to  both  civil  and  religious  tyranny ; 
for  it  was  there  that  those  Saxon  institutions  and  principles 
were  first  developed  without  constraint,  while  the  time  of 
their  establishment  hi  England  was  still  distant.  Restrained 
by  our  narrow  limits,  we  can  merely  indicate  this  curious 
state  of  things;  nor  may  we  enter  on  many  mysteries  of 

social  government  which  the  most  learned  find  a  difficulty 
Holland. — 3 


50  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

in  solving.  "What  were  the  rights  of  the  nobles  in  their  con- 
nection with  these  freemen?  What  ties  of  reciprocal  inter- 
est bound  the  different  cantons  to  each  other?  What  were 
the  privileges  of  the  towns? — These  are  the  minute  but  im- 
portant points  of  detail  which  are  overshadowed  by  the 
grand  and  imposing  figure  of  the  national  independence. 
But  in  fact  the  emperors  themselves,  in  these  distant  times, 
had  little  knowledge  of  this  province,  and  spoke  of  it 
vaguely,  and  as  it  were  at  random,  in  their  diplomas,  the 
chief  monuments  of  the  history  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The 
counts  of  Holland  and  the  apostolic  nuncios  addressed  their 
acts  and  rescripts  indiscriminately  to  the  nobles,  clergy, 
magistrates,  judges,  consuls,  or  commons  of  Friesland. 
Sometimes  appeared  in  those  documents  the  vague  and 
imposing  title  of  "the  great  Frison,"  applied  to  some  pop- 
ular leader.  All  this  confusion  tends  to  prove,  on  the  au- 
thority of  the  historians  of  the  epoch,  and  the  charters  so 
carefully  collected  by  the  learned,  that  this  question,  now 
so  impossible  to  solve,  was  even  then  not  rightly  understood 
— what  were  really  those  fierce  and  redoubtable  Frisons  in 
their  popular  and  political  relations?  The  fact  is,  that  lib- 
erty was  a  matter  so  difficult  to  be  comprehended  by  the 
writers  of  those  times  that  Froissart  gave  as  his  opinion, 
about  the  year  1380,  that  the  Frisons  were  a  most  unrea- 
sonable race,  for  not  recognizing  the  authority  and  power 
of  the  great  lords. 

The  eleventh  century  had  been  for  the  Netherlands  (with 
the  exception  of  Friesland  and  Flanders)  an  epoch  of  organ- 
ization; and  had  nearly  fixed  the  political  existence  of  the 
provinces,  which  were  so  long  confounded  in  the  vast  pos- 
sessions of  the  empire.  It  is  therefore  important  to  ascer- 
tain under  what  influence  and  on  what  basis  these  provinces 
became  consolidated  at  that  period.  Holland  and  Zealand, 
animated  by  the  spirit  which  we  may  fairly  distinguish 
under  the  mingled  title  of  Saxon  and  maritime,  countries 
scarcely  accessible,  and  with  a  vigorous  population,  pos- 
sessed, in  the  descendants  of  Thierry  I.,  a  race  of  national 


TO   THE   DEATH    OF   LOUIS   DE   MALE  81 

chieftains  who  did  not  attempt  despotic  rule  over  so  un- 
conquerable a  people.  In  Brabant,  the  maritime  towns  of 
Berg-op-Zoom  and  Antwerp  formed,  in  the  Flemish  style, 
so  many  republics,  small  but  not  insignificant;  while  the 
southern  parts  of  the  province  were  under  the  sway  of  a 
nobility  who  crushed,  trampled  on,  or  sold  their  vassals  at 
their  pleasure  or  caprice.  The  bishopric  of  Liege  offered 
also  the  same  contrast;  the  domains  of  the  nobility  being 
governed  with  the  utmost  harshness,  while  those  prince- 
prelates  lavished  on  their  plebeian  vassals  privileges  which 
might  have  been  supposed  the  fruits  of  generosity,  were  it 
not  clear  that  the  object  was  to  create  an  opposition  in  the 
lower  orders  against  the  turbulent  aristocracy,  whom  they 
found  it  impossible  to  manage  single-handed.  The  wars  of 
these  bishops  against  the  petty  nobles,  who  made  their  cas- 
tles so  many  receptacles  of  robbers  and  plunder,  were  thns 
the  foundation  of  public  liberty.  And  it  appears  tolerably 
certain  that  the  Paladins  of  Ariosto  were  in  reality  nothing 
more  than  those  brigand  chieftains  of  the  Ardennes,  whose 
ruined  residences  preserve  to  this  day  the  names  which  the 
poet  borrowed  from  the  old  romance  writers.  But  in  all 
the  rest  of  the  Netherlands,  excepting  the  provinces  al- 
ready mentioned,  no  form  of  government  existed,  but 
that  fierce  feudality  which  reduced  the  people  into  serfs, 
and  turned  the  social  state  of  man  into  a  cheerless  waste 
of  bondage. 

It  was  then  that  the  Crusades,  with  wild  and  stirring 
fanaticism,  agitated,  in  the  common  impulse  given  to  all 
Europe,  even  those  little  states  which  seemed  to  slumber 
in  their  isolated  independence.  Nowhere  did  the  voice  of 
Peter  the  Hermit  find  a  more  sympathizing  echo  than  in 
these  lands,  still  desolated  by  so  many  intestine  struggles. 
Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  duke  of  Lower  Lorraine,  took  the  lead 
in  this  chivalric  and  religious  frenzy.  With  him  set  out  the 
counts  of  Hainault  and  Flanders;  the  latter  of  whom  re- 
ceived from  the  English  crusaders  the  honorable  appellation 
of  Fitz  St.  George.  But  although  the  valor  of  all  these 


52  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

princes  was  conspicuous,  from  the  foundation  of  the  king- 
dom of  Jerusalem  by  Godfrey  of  Bouillon  in  1098,  until  that 
of  the  Latin  empire  of  Constantinople  by  Baldwin  of  Flan- 
ders in  1203,  still  the  simple  gentlemen  and  peasants  of 
Friesland  did  not  less  distinguish  themselves.  They  were, 
on  all  occasions,  the  first  to  mount  the  breach  or  lead  the 
charge ;  and  the  pope's  nuncio  found  himself  forced  to  pro- 
hibit the  very  women  of  Friesland  from  embarking  for  the 
Holy  Land — so  anxious  were  they  to  share  the  perils  and 
glory  of  their  husbands  and  brothers  in  combating  the 
Saracens. 

The  outlet  given  by  the  crusaders  to  the  overboiling 
ardor  of  these  warlike  countries  was  a  source  of  infinite  ad- 
vantage to  their  internal  economy ;  under  the  rapid  progress 
of  civilization,  the  population  increased  and  the  fields  were 
cultivated.  The  nobility,  reduced  to  moderation  by  the  en- 
feebling consequences  of  extensive  foreign  wars,  became 
comparatively  impotent  in  their  attempted  efforts  against 
domestic  freedom.  Those  of  Flanders  and  Brabant,  also, 
were  almost  decimated  in  the  terrible  battle  of  Bouvines, 
fought  between  the  Emperor  Othon  and  Philip  Augustus, 
king  of  France.  On  no  occasion,  however,  had  this  reduced 
but  not  degenerate  nobility  shown  more  heroic  valor.  The 
Flemish  knights,  disdaining  to  mount  their  horses  or  form 
their  ranks  for  the  repulse  of  the  French  cavalry,  composed 
of  common  persons,  contemptuously  received  their  shock  on 
foot  and  in  the  disorder  of  individual  resistance.  The  brave 
Buridan  of  Ypres  led  his  comrades  to  the  fight,  with  the 
chivalric  war-cry,  "Let  each  now  think  of  her  he  loves!" 
But  the  issue  of  this  battle  was  ruinous  to  the  Belgians,  in 
consequence  of  the  bad  generalship  of  the  emperor,  who  had 
divided  his  army  into  small  portions,  which  were  defeated 
in  detail. 

"While  the  nobility  thus  declined,  the  towns  began  rapidly 
to  develop  the  elements  of  popular  force.  In  1120,  a  Flem- 
ish knight  who  might  descend  so  far  as  to  marry  a  woman 
of  the  plebeian  ranks  incurred  the  penalty  of  degradation 


53 

and  servitude.  In  1220,  scarcely  a  serf  was  to  be  found  in 
all  Flanders.  The  Countess  Jane  had  enfranchised  all  those 
belonging  to  her  as  early  as  1222.  In  1300,  the  chiefs  of 
the  gilden,  or  trades,  were  more  powerful  than  the  nobles. 
These  dates  and  these  facts  must  suffice  to  mark  the  epoch 
at  which  the  great  mass  of  the  nation  arose  from  the 
wretchedness  in  which  it  was  plunged  by  the  Norman  in- 
vasion, and  acquired  sufficient  strength  and  freedom  to  form 
a  real  political  force.  But  it  is  remarkable  that  the  same 
results  took  place  in  all  the  counties  or  dukedoms  of  the 
Lowlands  precisely  at  the  same  period.  In  fact,  if  we  start 
from  the  year  1200  on  this  interesting  inquiry,  we  shall  see 
the  commons  attacking,  in  the  first  place,  the  petty  feudal 
lords,  and  next  the  counts  and  the  dukes  themselves,  as 
often  as  justice  was  denied  them.  In  1257,  the  peasants  of 
Holland  and  the  burghers  of  Utrecht  proclaimed  freedom 
and  equality,  drove  out  the  bishop  and  the  nobles,  and  be- 
gan a  memorable  struggle  which  lasted  full  two  hundred 
years.  In  1260,  the  townspeople  of  Flanders  appealed  to 
the  king  of  France  against  the  decrees  of  their  count,  who 
ended  the  quarrel  by  the  loss  of  his  county.  In  1303,  Mech- 
lin and  Louvain,  the  chief  towns  of  Brabant,  expelled  the 
patrician  families.  A  coincidence  like  this  cannot  be  at- 
tributed to  trifling  or  partial  causes,  such  as  the  miscon- 
duct of  a  single  count,  or  other  local  evil;  but  to  a  great 
general  movement  in  the  popular  mind,  the  progress  of 
agriculture  and  industry  in  the  whole  country,  superin- 
ducing an  increase  of  wealth  and  intelligence,  which, 
when  unrestrained  by  the  influence  of  a  corrupt  govern- 
ment, must  naturally  lead  to  the  liberty  and  the  happiness 
of  a  people. 

The  weaving  of  woollen  and  linen  cloths  was  one  of  the 
chief  sources  of  this  growing  prosperity.  A  prodigious  quan- 
tity of  cloth  and  linen  was  manufactured  in  all  parts  of  the 
Netherlands.  The  maritime  prosperity  acquired  an  equal 
increase  by  the  carrying  trade,  both  in  imports  and  exports. 
Whole  fleets  of  Dutch  and  Flemish  merchant  ships  repaired 


54  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

regularly  to  the  coasts  of  Spain  and  Languedoc.  Flan- 
ders was  already  become  the  great  market  for  England 
ana  all  the  north  of  Europe.  The  great  increase  of 
population  forced  all  parts  of  the  country  into  cultiva- 
tion; so  much  so,  that  lands  were  in  those  times  sold  at 
a  high  price,  which  are  to-day  left  waste  from  imputed 
sterility. 

Legislation  naturally  followed  the  movements  of  those 
positive  and  material  interests.  The  earliest  of  the  towns, 
after  the  invasion  of  the  Normans,  were  in  some  degree  but 
places  of  refuge.  It  was  soon,  however,  established  that  the 
regular  inhabitants  of  these  bulwarks  of  the  country  should 
not  be  subjected  to  any  servitude  beyond  their  care  and 
defence;  but  the  citizen  who  might  absent  himself  for  a 
longer  period  than  forty  days  was  considered  a  deserter  and 
deprived  of  his  rights.  It  was  about  the  year  1100  that  the 
commons  began  to  possess  the  privilege  of  regulating  their 
internal  affairs;  they  appointed  their  judges  and  magis- 
trates, and  attached  to  their  authority  the  old  custom  of 
ordering  all  the  citizens  to  assemble  or  march  when  the  sum- 
mons of  the  feudal  lord  sounded  the  signal  for  their  assem- 
blage or  service.  By  this  means  each  municipal  magistracy 
had  the  disposal  of  a  force  far  superior  to  those  of  the 
nobles,  for  the  population  of  the  towns  exceeded  both  in 
number  and  discipline  the  vassals  of  the  seigniorial  lands. 
And  these  trained  bands  of  the  towns  made  war  in  a  way 
very  different  from  that  hitherto  practiced ;  for  the  chivalry 
of  the  country,  making  the  trade  of  arms  a  profession  for 
life,  the  feuds  of  the  chieftains  produced  hereditary  strug- 
gles, almost  always  slow,  and  mutually  disastrous.  But  the 
townsmen,  forced  to  tear  themselves  from  every  association 
of  home  and  its  manifold  endearments,  advanced  boldly  to 
the  object  of  the  contest ;  never  shrinking  from  the  dangers 
of  war,  from  fear  of  that  still  greater  to  be  found  in  a  pro- 
longed struggle.  It  is  thus  that  it  may  be  remarked,  during 
the  memorable  conflicts  of  the  thirteenth  century,  that  when 
even  the  bravest  of  the  knights  advised  their  counts  or  dukes 


TO   THE    DEATH    OF    LOUIS    DE    MALE  55 

to  grant  or  demand  a  truce,  the  citizen  militia  never  knew 
but  one  cry — "To  the  charge!" 

Evidence  was  soon  given  of  the  importance  of  this  new 
nation,  when  it  became  forced  to  take  up  arms  against  ene- 
mies still  more  redoubtable  than  the  counts.  In  1301,  the 
Flemings,  who  had  abandoned  their  own  sovereign  to  attach 
themselves  to  Philip  the  Fair,  king  of  France,  began  to 
repent  of  their  newly-formed  allegiance,  and  to  be  weary 
of  the  master  they  had  chosen.  Two  citizens  of  Bruges, 
Peter  de  Koning,  a  draper,  and  John  Breydel,  a  butcher, 
put  themselves  at  the  head  of  their  fellow-townsmen,  and 
completely  dislodged  the  French  troops  who  garrisoned  it. 
The  following  year  the  militia  of  Bruges  and  the  immediate 
neighborhood  sustained  alone,  at  the  battle  of  Courtrai,  the 
shock  of  one  of  the  finest  armies  that  France  ever  sent  into 
the  field.  Victory  soon  declared  for  the  gallant  men  of 
Bruges ;  upward  of  three  thousand  of  the  French  chivalry, 
besides  common  soldiers,  were  left  dead  on  the  field.  In 
1304,  after  a  long  contested  battle,  the  Flemings  forced  the 
king  of  France  to  release  their  count,  whom  he  had  held 
prisoner.  "I  believe  it  rains  Flemings!"  said  Philip,  aston- 
ished to  see  them  crowd  on  him  from  all  sides  of  the  field. 
But  this  multitude  of  warriors,  always  ready  to  meet  the 
foe,  were  provided  for  the  most  part  by  the  towns.  In  the 
seigniorial  system  a  village  hardly  furnished  more  than  four 
or  five  men,  and  these  only  on  important  occasions ;  but  in 
that  of  the  towns  every  citizen  was  enrolled  as  a  soldier  to 
defend  the  country  at  all  times. 

The  same  system  established  in  Brabant  forced  the  duke 
of  that  province  to  sanction  and  guarantee  the  popular  privi- 
leges, and  the  superiority  of  the  people  over  the  nobility. 
Such  was  the  result  of  the  famous  contract  concluded  in 
1312  at  Cortenbergh,  by  which  the  duke  created  a  legislative 
and  judicial  assembly  to  meet  every  twenty-one  days  for  the 
provincial  business;  and  to  consist  of  fourteen  deputies,  of 
whom  only  four  were  to  be  nobles,  and  ten  were  chosen 
from  the  people.  The  duke  was  bound  by  this  act  to  hold 


56  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

himself  in  obedience  to  the  legislative  decisions  of  the  coun- 
cil, .and  renounced  all  right  of  levying  arbitrary  taxes  or 
duties  on  the  state.  Thus  were  the  local  privileges  of  the 
people  by  degrees  secured  and  ratified;  but  the  various 
towns,  making  common  cause  for  general  liberty,  became 
strictly  united  together,  and  progressively  extended  their 
influence  and  power.  The  confederation  between  Flander^. 
and  Brabant  was  soon  consolidated.  The  burghers  of 
Bruges,  who  had  taken  the  lead  in  the  grand  national 
union,  and  had  been  the  foremost  to  expel  the  foreign  force, 
took  umbrage  in  1323  at  an  arbitrary  measure  of  their 
count,  Louis  (called  of  Cressy  by  posthumous  nomination, 
from  his  having  been  killed  at  that  celebrated  fight),  by 
which  he  ceded  to  the  count  of  Namur,  his  great-uncle,  the 
port  of  Ecluse,  and  authorized  him  to  levy  duties  there  in 
the  style  of  the  feudal  lords  of  the  high  country.  It  was 
but  the  affair  of  a  day  to  the  intrepid  citizens  to  attack  the 
fortress  of  Ecluse,  carry  it  by  assault,  and  take  prisoner 
the  old  count  of  Namur.  They  destroyed  in  a  short  time 
almost  all  the  strong  castles  of  the  nobles  throughout  the 
province ;  and  having  been  joined  by  all  the  towns  of  west- 
ern Flanders,  they  finally  made  prisoners  of  Count  Louis 
himself,  with  almost  the  whole  of  the  nobility,  who  had 
taken  refuge  with  him  in  the  town  of  Courtrai.  But  Ghent, 
actuated  by  the  jealousy  which  at  all  times  existed  between 
it  and  Bruges,  stood  aloof  at  this  crisis.  The  latter  town 
was  obliged  to  come  to  a  compromise  with  the  count,  who 
soon  afterward,  on  a  new  quarrel  breaking  out,  and  sup 
ported  by  the  king  of  France,  almost  annihilated  his  sturdy 
opponents  at  the  battle  of  Cassel,  where  the  Flemish  in- 
fantry, commanded  by  Nicholas  Zannekin  and  others,  were 
literally  cut  to  pieces  by  the  French  knights  and  men-at- 
arms. 

This  check  proved  the  absolute  necessity  of  union  among 
the  rival  cities.  Ten  years  after  the  battle  of  Cassel,  Ghent 
set  the  example  of  general  opposition;  this  example  was 
promptly  followed,  and  the  chief  towns  flew  to  arms.  The 


TO    THE    DEATH    OF    LOUIS    DE    MALE  67 

celebrated  James  d'Artaveldt,  commonly  called  the  brewer 
of  Ghent,  put  himself  at  the  head  of  this  formidable  insur- 
rection. He  was  a  man  of  a  distinguished  family,  who  had 
himself  enrolled  among  the  guild  of  brewers,  to  entitle  him 
to  occupy  a  place  in  the  corporation  of  Ghent,  which  he 
soon  succeeded  in  managing  and  leading  at  his  pleasure. 
The  tyranny  of  the  count,  and  the  French  party  which  sup- 
ported him,  became  so  intolerable  to  Artaveldt,  that  he 
resolved  to  assail  them  at  all  hazards,  unappalled  by  the 
fate  of  his  father-in-law,  Sohier  de  Courtrai,  who  lost  his 
head  for  a  similar  attempt,  and  notwithstanding  the  hitherto 
devoted  fidelity  of  his  native  city  to  the  count.  One  only 
object  seemed  insurmountable.  The  Flemings  had  sworn 
allegiance  to  the  crown  of  France;  and  they  revolted  at 
the  idea  of  perjury,  even  from  an  extorted  oath.  But  to 
overcome  their  scruples,  Artaveldt  proposed  to  acknowledge 
the  claim  of  Edward  III.  of  England  to  the  French  crown. 
The  Flemings  readily  acceded  to  this  arrangement ;  quickly 
overwhelmed  Count  Louis  of  Cressy  and  his  French  parti- 
sans ;  and  then  joined,  with  an  army  of  sixty  thousand  men, 
the  English  monarch,  who  had  landed  at  Antwerp.  These 
numerous  auxiliaries  rendered  Edward's  army  irresistible; 
and  soon  afterward  the  French  and  English  fleets,  both  of 
formidable  power,  but  the  latter  of  inferior  force,  met  near 
Sluys,  and  engaged  in  a  battle  meant  to  be  decisive  of  the 
war:  victory  remained  doubtful  during  an  entire  day  of 
fighting,  until  a  Flemish  squadron,  hastening  to  the  aid 
of  the  English,  fixed  the  fate  of  the  combat  by  the  utter 
defeat  of  the  enemy. 

A  truce  between  the  two  kings  did  not  deprive  Artaveldt 
of  his  well-earned  authority.  He  was  invested  with  the  title 
of  ruward,  or  conservator  of  the  peace,  of  Flanders,  and 
governed  the  whole  province  with  almost  sovereign  sway. 
It  was  said  that  King  Edward  used  familiarly  to  call  him 
"his  dear  gossip";  and  it  is  certain  that  there  was  not  a 
feudal  lord  of  the  time  whose  power  was  not  eclipsed  by  this 
leader  of  the  people.  One  of  the  principal  motives  which 


58  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

cemented  the  attachment  of  the  Flemings  to  Artaveldt  was 
the  advantage  obtained  through  his  influence  with  Edward 
for  facilitating  the  trade  with  England,  whence  they  pro- 
cured the  chief  supply  of  wool  for  their  manufactories.  Ed- 
ward promised  them  seventy  thousand  sacks  as  the  reward 
of  their  alliance.  But  though  greatly  influenced  by  the 
stimulus  of  general  interest,  the  Flemings  loved  their  do- 
mestic liberty  better  than  English  wool;  and  when  they 
found  that  their  ruward  degenerated  from  a  firm  patriot 
into  the  partisan  of  a  foreign  prince,  they  became  disgusted 
with  him  altogether;  and  he  perished  in  1345,  in  a  tumult 
raised  against  him  by  those  by  whom  he  had  been  so  lately 
idolized.  The  Flemings  held  firm,  nevertheless,  in  their 
alliance  with  England,  only  regulating  the  connection  by 
a  steady  principle  of  national  independence. 

Edward  knew  well  how  to  conciliate  and  manage  these 
faithful  and  important  auxiliaries  during  all  his  continental 
wars.  A  Flemish  army  covered  the  siege  of  Calais  in  1348; 
and,  under  the  command  of  Giles  de  Rypergherste,  a  mere 
weaver  of  Ghent,  they  beat  the  dauphin  of  France  in  a 
pitched  battle.  But  Calais  once  taken,  and  a  truce  con- 
cluded, the  English  king  abandoned  his  allies.  These,  left 
wholly  to  their  own  resources,  forced  the  French  and  the 
heir  of  their  count,  young  Louis  de  Male,  to  recognize  their 
right  to  self-government  according  to  their  ancient  privi- 
leges, and  of  not  being  forced  to  give  aid  to  France  in  any 
war  against  England.  Flanders  may  therefore  be  pro- 
nounced as  forming,  at  this  epoch,  both  in  right  and  fact, 
a  truly  independent  principality. 

But  such  struggles  as  these  left  a  deep  and  immovable 
sentiment  of  hatred  in  the  minds  of  the  vanquished.  Louis 
de  Male  longed  for  the  re-establishment  and  extension  of  his 
authority;  and  had  the  art  to  gain  over  to  his  views  not 
only  all  the  nobles,  but  many  of  the  most  influential  guilds 
or  trades.  Ghent,  which  long  resisted  his  attempts,  was 
at  length  reduced  by  famine;  and  the  count  projected  the 
ruin,  or  at  least  the  total  subjection,  of  this  turbulent  town. 


TO  THE  DEATH  OF  LOUIS  DE  MALE        59 

A  son  of  Arta veldt  started  forth  at  this  juncture,  when  the 
popular  cause  seemed  lost,  and  joining  with  his  fellow- 
citizens,  John  Lyons  and  Peter  du  Bois,  he  led  seven  thou- 
sand resolute  burghers  against  forty  thousand  feudal  vas- 
sals. He  completely  defeated  the  count,  and  took  the  town 
of  Bruges,  where  Louis  de  Male  only  obtained  safety  by 
hiding  himself  under  the  bed  of  an  old  woman  who  gave 
him  shelter.  Thus  once  more  feudality  was  defeated  in  a 
fresh  struggle  with  civic  freedom. 

The  consequences  of  this  event  were  immense.  They 
reached  to  the  very  heart  of  France,  where  the  people  bore 
in  great  discontent  the  feudal  yoke;  and  Froissart  declares 
that  the  success  of  the  people  of  Ghent  had  nearly  over- 
thrown the  superiority  of  the  nobility  over  the  people  in 
France.  But  the  king,  Charles  VI.,  excited  by  his  uncle, 
Philip  the  Bold,  duke  of  Burgundy,  took  arms  in  support 
of  the  defeated  count,  and  marched  with  a  powerful  army 
against  the  rebellious  burghers.  Though  defeated  in  four 
successive  combats,  in  the  latter  of  which,  that  of  Roosbeke, 
Artaveldt  was  killed,  the  Flemings  would  not  submit  to 
their  imperious  count,  who  used  every  persuasion  with 
Charles  to  continue  his  assistance  for  the  punishment  of 
these  refractory  subjects.  But  the  duke  of  Burgundy  was 
aware  that  a  too  great  perseverance  would  end,  either  in 
driving  the  people  to  despair  and  the  possible  defeat  of  the 
French,  or  the  entire  conquest  of  the  country  and  its  junction 
to  the  crown  of  France.  He,  being  son-in-law  to  Louis  de 
Male,  and  consequently  aspiring  to  the  inheritance  of  Flan- 
ders, saw  with  a  keen  glance  the  advantage  of  a  present 
compromise.  On  the  death  of  Louis,  who  is  stated  to  have 
been  murdered  by  Philip's  brother,  the  duke  of  Berri,  he 
concluded  a  peace  with  the  rebel  burghers,  and  entered 
at  once  upon  the  sovereignty  of  the  country. 


CHAPTER  V 


A.D.    1384—1506 

THUS  the  house  of  Burgundy,  which  soon  after  became 
so  formidable  and  celebrated,  obtained  this  vast  ac- 
cession to  its  power.  The  various  changes  which 
had  taken  place  in  the  neighboring  provinces  during  the 
continuance  of  these  civil  wars  had  altered  the  state  of 
Flanders  altogether.  John  d'Avesnes,  count  of  Hainault, 
having  also  succeeded  in  1299  to  the  county  of  Holland,  the 
two  provinces,  though  separated  by  Flanders  and  Brabant, 
remained  from  that  time  under  the  government  of  the  same 
chief,  who  soon  became  more  powerful  than  the  bishops  of 
Utrecht,  or  even  than  their  formidable  rivals  the  Frisons. 

During  the  wars  which  desolated  these  opposing  terri- 
tories, in  consequence  of  the  perpetual  conflicts  for  supe- 
riority, the  power  of  the  various  towns  insensibly  became 
at  least  as  great  as  that  of  the  nobles  to  whom  they  were 
constantly  opposed.  The  commercial  interests  of  Holland, 
also,  were  considerably  advanced  by  the  influx  of  Flemish 
merchants  forced  to  seek  refuge  there  from  the  convulsions 
which  agitated  their  province.  Every  day  confirmed  and 
increased  the  privileges  of  the  people  of  Brabant,;  while  at 
Liege  the  inhabitants  gradually  began  to  gain  the  upper 
hand,  and  to  shake  off  the  former  subjection  to  their  sov- 
ereign bishops. 

Although  Philip  of  Burgundy  became  count  of  Flan- 
ders, by  the  death  of  his  father-in-law,  in  the  year  1384, 
it  was  not  till  the  following  year  that  he  concluded  a  peace 
(60) 


TO    THE    DEATH    OF    PHILIP    THE    FAIR  61 

with  the  people  of  Ghent,  and  entered  into  quiet  possession 
of  the  province.  In  the  same  year  the  duchess  of  Brabant, 
the  last  descendant  of  the  duke  of  that  province,  died,  leav- 
ing no  nearer  relative  than  the  duchess  of  Burgundy;  so 
that  Philip  obtained  in  right  of  his  wife  this  new  and  im- 
portant accession  to  his  dominions.  But  the  consequent 
increase  of  the  sovereign's  power  was  not,  as  is  often  the 
case,  injurious  to  the  liberties  or  happiness  of  the  people. 
Philip  continued  to  govern  in  th«  interest  of  the  country, 
which  he  had  the  good  sense  to  consider  as  identified  with 
his  own.  He  augmented  the  privileges  of  the  towns,  and 
negotiated  for  the  return  into  Flanders  of  those  merchants 
who  had  emigrated  to  Germany  and  Holland  during  the 
continuance  of  the  civil  wars.  He  thus  by  degrees  accus- 
tomed his  new  subjects,  so  proud  of  their  rights,  to  submit 
to  his  authority ;  and  his  peaceable  reign  was  only  disturbed 
by  the  fatal  issue  of  the  expedition  of  his  son,  John  the 
Fearless,  count  of  Nevers,  against  the  Turks.  This  young 
prince,  filled  with  ambition  and  temerity,  was  offered  the 
command  of  the  force  sent  by  Charles  III.  of  France  to 
the  assistance  of  Sigismund  of  Hungary  in  his  war  against 
Bajazet.  Followed  by  a  numerous  body  of  nobles,  he  en- 
tered on  the  contest,  and  was  defeated  and  taken  prisoner 
by  the  Turks  at  the  battle  of  Nicopolis.  His  army  was 
totally  destroyed,  and  himself  only  restored  to  liberty  on 
the  payment  of  an  immense  ransom. 

John  the  Fearless  succeeded  in  1404  to  the  inheritance 
of  all  his  father's  dominions,  with  the  exception  of  Brabant, 
of  which  his  younger  brother,  Anthony  of  Burgundy,  be- 
came duke.  John,  whose  ambitious  and  ferocious  char- 
acter became  every  day  more  strongly  developed,  now 
aspired  to  the  government  of  France  during  the  insanity 
of  his  cousin  Charles  VI.  He  occupied  himself  little  with 
the  affairs  of  the  Netherlands,  from  which  he  only  desired 
to  draw  supplies  of  men.  But  the  Flemings,  taking  no 
interest  in  his  personal  views  or  private  projects,  and  equally 
indifferent  to  the  rivalry  of  England  and  France,  which  now 


62  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

began  so  fearfully  to  afflict  the  latter  kingdom,  forced  their 
ambitious  count  to  declare  their  province  a  neutral  country ; 
BO  that  the  English  merchants  were  admitted  as  usual  to 
trade  in  all  the  ports  of  Flanders,  and  the  Flemings  equally 
well  received  in  England,  while  the  duke  made  open  war 
against  Great  Britain  in  his  quality  of  a  prince  of  France 
and  sovereign  of  Burgundy.  This  is  probably  the  earliest 
well-established  instance  of  such  a  distinction  between  the 
prince  and  the  people. 

Anthony,  duke  of  Brabant,  the  brother  of  Philip,  was 
not  so  closely  restricted  hi  his  authority  and  wishes.  He 
led  all  the  nobles  of  the  province  to  take  part  in  the  quar- 
rels of  France;  and  he  suffered  the  penalty  of  his  rashness 
in  meeting  his  death  in  the  battle  of  Agincourt.  But  the 
duchy  suffered  nothing  by  this  event,  for  the  militia  of 
the  country  had  not  followed  their  duke  and  his  nobles  to 
the  war ;  and  a  national  council  was  now  established,  con- 
sisting of  eleven  persons,  two  of  whom  were  ecclesiastics, 
three  barons,  two  knights,  and  four  commoners.  This 
council,  formed  on  principles  so  fairly  popular,  conducted 
the  public  affairs  with  great  wisdom  during  the  minority 
of  the  young  duke.  Each  province  seems  thus  to  have 
governed  itself  upon  principles  of  republican  independence. 
The  sovereigns  could  not  at  discretion,  or  by  the  want  of 
it,  play  the  bloody  game  of  war  for  their  mere  amusement ; 
and  the  emperor  putting  in  his  claim  at  this  epoch  to  his 
ancient  rights  of  sovereignty  over  Brabant,  as  an  imperial 
fief,  the  council  and  the  people  treated  the  demand  with 
derision. 

The  spirit  of  constitutional  liberty  and  legal  equality 
which  now  animated  the  various  provinces  is  strongly 
marked  in  the  history  of  the  time  by  two  striking  and 
characteristic  incidents.  At  the  death  of  Philip  the  Bold, 
his  widow  deposited  on  his  tomb  her  purse,  and  the  keys 
which  she  carried  at  her  girdle  in  token  of  marriage ;  and 
by  this  humiliating  ceremony  she  renounced  her  rights  to 
a  succession  overloaded  with  her  husband's  debts.  In  the 


TO    THE    DEATH    OF    PHILIP    THE    FAIR  63 

same  year  (1404)  the  widow  of  Albert,  count  of  Holland 
and  Hainault,  finding  herself  in  similar  circumstances,  re- 
quired of  the  bailiff  of  Holland  and  the  judges  of  his  court 
permission  to  make  a  like  renunciation.  The  claim  was 
granted ;  and,  to  fulfil  the  requisite  ceremony,  she  walked 
at  the  head  of  the  funeral  procession,  carrying  in  her  hand 
a  blade  of  straw,  which  she  placed  on  the  coffin.  "We  thus 
find  that  in  such  cases  the  reigning  families  were  held  liable 
to  follow  the  common  usages  of  the  country.  From  such 
instances  there  required  but  little  progress  in  the  principle 
of  equality  to  reach  the  republican  contempt  for  rank  which 
made  the  citizens  of  Bruges  in  the  following  century  arrest 
their  count  for  his  private  debts. 

The  spirit  of  independence  had  reached  the  same  point 
at  Liege.  The  families  of  the  counts  of  Holland  and  Hai- 
nault, which  were  at  this  time  distinguished  by  the  name 
of  Bavaria,  because  they  were  only  descended  from  the  an- 
cient counts  of  Netherland  extraction  in  the  female  line, 
had  sufficient  influence  to  obtain  the  nomination  to  the 
bishopric  for  a  prince  who  was  at  the  period  in  his  in- 
fancy. John  of  Bavaria — for  so  he  was  called,  and  to  his 
name  was  afterward  added  the  epithet  of  "the  Pitiless" 
— on  reaching  his  majority,  did  not  think  it  necessary  to 
cause  himself  to  be  consecrated  a  priest,  but  governed  as 
a  lay  sovereign.  The  indignant  citizens  of  Liege  expelled 
him,  and  chose  another  bishop.  But  the  Houses  of  Bur- 
gundy and  Bavaria,  closely  allied  by  intermarriages,  made 
common  cause  in  his  quarrel ;  and  John,  duke  of  Burgundy, 
and  William  IV.,  count  of  Holland  and  Hainault,  brother 
of  the  bishop,  replaced  by  force  this  cruel  and  unworthy 
prelate. 

This  union  of  the  government  over  all  the  provinces  in 
two  families  so  closely  connected  rendered  the  preponder- 
ance of  the  rulers  too  strong  for  that  balance  hitherto  kept 
steady  by  the  popular  force.  The  former  could  on  each 
new  quarrel  join  together,  and  employ  against  any  par- 
ticular town  their  whole  united  resources;  whereas  the 


04  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

latter  could  only  act  by  isolated  efforts  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  their  separate  rights.  Such  was  the  cause  of  a 
considerable  decline  in  public  liberty  during  the  fifteenth 
century.  It  is  true  that  John  the  Fearless  gave  almost 
his  whole  attention  to  his  French  political  intrigues,  and 
to  the  fierce  quarrels  which  he  maintained  with  the  House 
of  Orleans.  But  his  nephew,  John,  duke  of  Brabant,  hav- 
ing married,  in  1416,  his  cousin  Jacqueline,  daughter  and 
heiress  of  William  IV.,  count  of  Holland  and  Hainault, 
this  branch  of  the  House  of  Burgundy  seemed  to  get  the 
start  of  the  elder  in  its  progressive  influence  over  the  prov- 
inces of  the  Netherlands.  The  dukes  of  Guelders,  who  had 
changed  their  title  of  counts  for  one  of  superior  rank,  ac- 
quired no  accession  of  power  proportioned  to  their  new  dig- 
nity. The  bishops  of  Utrecht  became  by  degrees  weaker; 
private  dissensions  enfeebled  Friesland ;  Luxemburg  was  a 
poor,  unimportant  dukedom;  but  Holland,  Hainault,  and 
Brabant  formed  the  very  heart  of  the  Netherlands;  while 
the  elder  branch  of  the  same  family,  under  whom  they 
were  united,  possessed  Flanders,  Artois,  and  the  two  Bur- 
gundies. To  complete  the  prosperity  and  power  of  this 
latter  branch,  it  was  soon  destined  to  inherit  the  entire 
dominions  of  the  other. 

A  fact  the  consequences  of  which  were  so  important  for 
the  entire  of  Europe  merits  considerable  attention ;  but  it  is 
most  difficult  to  explain  at  once  concisely  and  clearly  the 
series  of  accidents,  manoeuvres,  tricks,  and  crimes  by  which 
it  was  accomplished.  It  must  first  be  remarked  that  thi& 
John  of  Brabant,  become  the  husband  of  his  cousin  Jacque- 
line, countess  of  Holland  and  Hainault,  possessed  neither 
the  moral  nor  physical  qualities  suited  to  mate  with  the 
most  lovely,  intrepid,  and  talented  woman  of  her  times; 
nor  the  vigor  and  firmness  required  for  the  maintenance  of 
an  increased,  and  for  those  days  a  considerable,  dominion. 
Jacqueline  thoroughly  despised  her  insignificant  husband; 
first  in  secret,  and  subsequently  by  those  open  avowals 
forced  from  her  by  his  revolting  combination  of  weak- 


TO    THE    DEATH    OF    PHILIP    THE    FAIR  65 

ness,  cowardice,  and  tyranny.  He  tamely  allowed  the 
province  of  Holland  to  be  invaded  by  the  same  ungrate- 
ful bishop  of  Liege,  John  the  Pitiless,  whom  his  wife's 
father  and  his  own  uncle  had  re-established  in  his  justly 
forfeited  authority.  But  John  of  Brabant  revenged  him- 
self for  his  wife's  contempt  by  a  series  of  domestic  perse- 
cutions so  odious  that  the  states  of  Brabant  interfered  for 
her  protection.  Finding  it,  however,  impossible  to  remain 
in  a  perpetual  contest  with  a  husband  whom  she  hated  and 
despised,  she  fled  from  Brussels,  where  he  held  his  ducal 
court,  and  took  refuge  in  England,  under  the  protection  of 
Henry  V.,  at  that  time  in  the  plenitude  of  his  fame  and 
power. 

England  at  this  epoch  enjoyed  the  proudest  station  in 
European  affairs.  John  the  Fearless,  after  having  caused 
the  murder  of  his  rival,  the  duke  of  Orleans,  was  himself 
assassinated  on  the  bridge  of  Montereau  by  the  followers  of 
the  dauphin  of  France,  and  in  his  presence.  Philip,  duke 
of  Burgundy,  the  son  and  successor  of  John,  had  formed 
a  close  alliance  with  Henry  V.,  to  revenge  his  father's 
murder;  and  soon  after  the  death  of  the  king  he  married 
his  sister,  and  thus  united  himself  still  more  nearly  to  the 
celebrated  John,  duke  of  Bedford,  brother  of  Henry,  and 
regent  of  France,  in  the  name  of  his  infant  nephew,  Henry 
VI.  But  besides  the  share  on  which  he  reckoned  in  the 
spoils  of  France,  Philip  also  looked  with  a  covetous  eye  on 
the  inheritance  of  Jacqueline,  his  cousin.  As  soon  as  he 
had  learned  that  this  princess,  so  well  received  in  England, 
was  taking  measures  for  having  her  marriage  annulled,  to 
enable  her  to  espouse  the  duke  of  Gloucester,  also  the  brother 
of  Henry  V. ,  and  subsequently  known  by  the  appellation  of 
"the  good  duke  Humphrey,"  he  was  tormented  by  a  double 
anxiety.  He,  in  the  first  place,  dreaded  that  Jacqueline 
might  have  children  by  her  projected  marriage  with  Glouces- 
ter (a  circumstance  neither  likely  nor  even  possible,  in  the 
opinion  of  some  historians,  to  result  from  her  union  with 
John  of  Brabant:  Hume,  vol.  in.,  p.  133),  and  thus  deprive 


66  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

him  of  his  right  of  succession  to  her  states ;  and  in  the  next, 
he  was  jealous  of  the  possible  domination  of  England  in  the 
Netherlands  as  well  as  in  France.  He  therefore  soon  be- 
came self-absolved  from  all  his  vows  of  revenge  in  the  cause 
of  his  murdered  father,  and  labored  solely  for  the  object  of 
his  personal  aggrandizement.  To  break  his  connection  with 
Bedford;  to  treat  secretly  with  the  dauphin,  his  father's  as- 
sassin, or  at  least  the  witness  and  warrant  for  his  assassina- 
tion ;  and  to  shuffle  from  party  to  party  as  occasion  required, 
were  movements  of  no  difficulty  to  Philip,  surnamed  "the 
Good."  He  openly  espoused  the  cause  of  his  infamous 
relative,  John  of  Brabant;  sent  a  powerful  army  into  Hai- 
nault,  which  Gloucester  vainly  strove  to  defend  in  right  of 
his  affianced  wife;  and  next  seized  on  Holland  and  Zea- 
land, where  he  met  with  a  long  but  ineffectual  resistance 
on  the  part  of  the  courageous  woman  he  so  mercilessly  op- 
pressed. Jacqueline,  deprived  of  the  assistance  of  her 
stanch  but  ruined  friends,1  and  abandoned  by  Gloucester 
(who,  on  the  refusal  of  Pope  Martin  V.  to  sanction  her 
divorce,  had  married  another  woman,  and  but  feebly  aided 
the  efforts  of  the  former  to  maintain  her  rights),  was  now 
left  a  widow  by  the  death  of  John  of  Brabant.  But  Philip, 
without  a  shadow  of  justice,  pursued  his  designs  against  her 
dominions,  and  finally  despoiled  her  of  her  last  possessions, 
and  even  of  the  title  countess,  which  she  forfeited  by  her 
marriage  with  Vrank  Van  Borselen,  a  gentleman  of  Zea- 
land, contrary  to  a  compact  to  which  Philip's  tyranny  had 
forced  her  to  consent.  After  a  career  the  most  checkered 

1  "We  must  not  omit  to  notice  the  existence  of  two  factions,  which,  for  near 
two  centuries,  divided  and  agitated  the  whole  population  of  Holland  and  Zea- 
land. One  bore  the  title  of  Hoeks  (fishing-hooks) ;  the  other  was  called  Kaabel- 
jauws  (cod-fish).  The  origin  of  these  burlesque  denominations  was  a  dispute 
between  two  parties  at  a  feast,  as  to  whether  the  cod-fish  took  the  hook  or  the 
hook  the  cod-fish?  This  apparently  frivolous  dispute  was  made  the  pretext  for 
a  serious  quarrel ;  and  the  partisans  of  the  nobles  and  those  of  the  towns  ranged 
themselves  at  either  side,  and  assumed  different  badges  of  distinction.  The 
Hoeks,  partisans  of  the  towns,  wore  red  caps ;  the  Kaabeljauws  wore  gray  ones. 
In  Jacqueline's  quarrel  with  Philip  of  Burgundy,  she  was  supported  by  the 
former;  and  it  was  not  till  the  year  1492  that  the  extinction  of  that  popular  and 
turbulent  faction  struck  a  final  blow  to  the  dissensions  of  both. 


TO    THE    DEATH    OF    PHILIP    THE    FAIR  67 

and  romantic  which  is  recorded  in  history,  the  beautiful  and 
hitherto  unfortunate  Jacqueline  found  repose  and  happiness 
in  the  tranquillity  of  private  life,  and  her  death  in  1436,  at 
the  age  of  thirty-six,  removed  all  restraint  from  Philip's 
thirst  for  aggrandizement,  in  the  indulgence  of  which  he 
drowned  his  remorse.  As  if  fortune  had  conspired  for  the 
rapid  consolidation  of  his  greatness,  the  death  of  Philip, 
count  of  St.  Pol,  who  had  succeeded  his  brother  John  in 
the  dukedom  of  Brabant,  gave  him  the  sovereignty  of  that 
extensive  province ;  and  his  dominions  soon  extended  to  the 
very  limits  of  Picardy,  by  the  Peace  of  Arras,  concluded 
with  the  dauphin,  now  become  Charles  VII.,  and  by  his 
finally  contracting  a  strict  alliance  with  France. 

Philip  of  Burgundy,  thus  become  sovereign  of  dominions 
at  once  so  extensive  and  compact,  had  the  precaution  and 
address  to  obtain  from  the  emperor  a  formal  renunciation 
of  his  existing,  though  almost  nominal,  rights  as  lord  para- 
mount. He  next  purchased  the  title  of  the  duchess  of  Lux- 
emburg to  that  duchy;  and  thus  the  states  of  the  House  of 
Burgundy  gained  an  extent  about  equal  to  that  of  the  ex- 
isting kingdom  of  the  Netherlands.  For  although  on  the 
north  and  east  they  did  not  include  Friesland,  the  bishopric 
of  Utrecht,  Guelders,  or  the  province  of  Liege,  still  on  the 
south  and  west  they  comprised  French  Flanders,  the  Bou- 
lonnais,  Artois,  and  a  part  of  Picardy,  besides  Burgundy. 
But  it  has  been  already  seen  how  limited  an  authority  was 
possessed  by  the  rulers  of  the  maritime  provinces.  Flanders 
in  particular,  the  most  populous  and  wealthy,  strictly  pre- 
served its  republican  institutions.  Ghent  and  Bruges  were 
the  two  great  towns  of  the  province,  and  each  maintained 
its  individual  authority  over  its  respective  territory,  with 
great  indifference  to  the  will  or  the  wishes  of  the  sovereign 
duke.  Philip,  however,  had  the  policy  to  divide  most  effect- 
ually these  rival  towns.  After  having  fallen  into  the  hands 
of  the  people  of  Bruges,  whom  he  made  a  vain  attempt  to 
surprise,  and  who  massacred  numbers  of  his  followers  before 
his  eyes,  he  forced  them  to  submission  by  the  assistance  of 


68  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

the  citizens  of  Ghent,  who  sanctioned  the  banishment  of  the 
chief  men  of  the  vanquished  town.  But  some  years  later 
Ghent  was  in  its  turn  oppressed  and  punished  for  having 
resisted  the  payment  of  some  new  tax.  It  found  no  support 
from  the  rest  of  Flanders.  Nevertheless  this  powerful  city 
singly  maintained  the  war  for  the  space  of  two  years ;  but 
the  intrepid  burghers  finally  yielded  to  the  veterans  of  the 
duke,  formed  to  victory  in  the  French  wars.  The  principal 
privileges  of  Ghent  were  on  this  occasion  revoked  and 
annulled. 

During  these  transactions  the  province  of  Holland,  which 
enjoyed  a  degree  of  liberty  almost  equal  to  Flanders,  had 
declared  war  against  the  Hanseatic  towns  on  its  own  proper 
authority.  Supported  by  Zealand,  which  formed  a  distinct 
country,  but  was  strictly  united  to  it  by  a  common  interest, 
Holland  equipped  a  fleet  against  the  pirates  which  infested 
their  coasts  and  assailed  their  commerce,  and  soon  forced 
them  to  submission.  Philip  in  the  meantime  contrived  to 
manage  the  conflicting  elements  of  his  power  with  great 
subtlety.  Notwithstanding  his  ambitious  and  despotic  char- 
acter, he  conducted  himself  so  cautiously  that  his  people  by 
common  consent  confirmed  his  title  of  "the  Good,"  which 
was  somewhat  inappropriately  given  to  him  at  the  very 
epoch  when  he  appeared  to  deserve  it  least.  Age  and  ex- 
haustion may  be  adduced  among  the  causes  of  the  toleration 
which  signalized  his  latter  years;  and  if  he  was  the  usurper 
of  some  parts  of  his  dominions,  he  cannot  be  pronounced  a 
tyrant  over  any. 

Philip  had  an  only  son,  born  and  reared  in  the  midst  of 
that  ostentatious  greatness  which  he  looked  on  as  his  own 
by  divine  right ;  whereas  his  father  remembered  that  it  had 
chiefly  become  his  by  fortuitous  acquirement,  and  much  of 
it  by  means  not  likely  to  look  well  in  the  sight  of  Heaven. 
This  son  was  Charles,  count  of  Charolois,  afterward  cele- 
brated under  the  name  of  Charles  the  Rash.  He  gave,  even 
in  the  lifetime  of  his  father,  a  striking  specimen  of  despot- 
ism to  the  people  of  Holland.  Appointed  stadtholder  of 


TO    THE    DEATH    OF    PHILIP    THE    FAIR  6& 

that  province  in  1457,  he  appropriated  to  himself  several 
important  successions;  forced  the  inhabitants  to  labor  in 
the  formation  of  dikes  for  the  security  of  the  property  thus 
acquired ;  and,  in  a  word,  conducted  himself  as  an  absolute 
master.  Soon  afterward  he  broke  out  into  open  opposition 
to  his  father,  who  had  complained  of  this  undutif ul  and  im- 
petuous son  to  the  states  of  the  provinces,  venting  his  grief 
in  lamentations  instead  of  punishing  his  people's  wrongs. 
But  his  private  rage  burst  forth  one  day  in  a  manner  as 
furious  as  his  public  expressions  were  tame.  He  went  so 
far  as  to  draw  his  sword  on  Charles  and  pursue  him 
through  his  palace;  and  a  disgusting  yet  instructive  spec- 
tacle it  was,  to  see  this  father  and  son  in  mutual  and  dis- 
graceful discord,  like  two  birds  of  prey  quarrelling  in  the 
same  eyry;  the  old  count  outrageous  to  find  he  was  no 
longer  undisputed  sovereign,  and  the  young  one  in  feeling 
that  he  had  not  yet  become  so.  But  Philip  was  declining 
daily.  Yet  even  when  dying  he  preserved  his  natural 
haughtiness  and  energy;  and  being  provoked  by  the  in- 
subordination of  the  people  of  Liege,  he  had  himself  car- 
ried to  the  scene  of  their  punishment.  The  refractory  town 
of  Dinant,  on  the  Meuse,  was  utterly  destroyed  by  the  two 
counts,  and  six  hundred  of  the  citizens  drowned  in  the  river, 
and  in  cold  blood.  The  following  year  Philip  expired,  leav- 
ing to  Charles  his  long-wished-for  inheritance. 

The  reign  of  Philip  had  produced  a  revolution  in  Belgian 
manners ;  for  his  example  and  the  great  increase  of  wealth 
had  introduced  habits  of  luxury  hitherto  quite  unknown. 
He  had  also  brought  into  fashion  romantic  notions  of  mili- 
tary honor,  love,  and  chivalry ;  which,  while  they  certainly 
softened  the  character  of  the  nobility,  contained  neverthe- 
less a  certain  mixture  of  frivolity  and  extravagance.  The 
celebrated  order  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  which  was  intro- 
duced by  Philip,  was  less  an  institution  based  on  grounds 
of  rational  magnificence  than  a  puerile  emblem  of  his  pas- 
sion for  Isabella  of  Portugal,  his  third  wife.  The  verses  of 
a  contemporary  poet  induced  him  to  make  a  vow  for  the 


70  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

conquest  of  Constantinople  from  the  Turks.  He  certainly 
never  attempted  to  execute  this  senseless  crusade;  but  he 
did  not  omit  so  fair  an  opportunity  for  levying  new  taxes 
on  his  people.  And  it  is  undoubted  that  the  splendor  of 
his  court  and  the  immorality  of  his  example  were  no 
slight  sources  of  corruption  to  the  countries  which  he 
governed. 

In  this  respect,  at  least,  a  totally  different  kind  of  gov- 
ernment was  looked  for  on  the  part  of  his  son  and  succes- 
sor, who  was  by  nature  and  habit  a  mere  soldier.  Charles 
began  his  career  by  seizing  on  all  the  money  and  jewels  left 
by  his  father;  he  next  dismissed  the  crowd  of  useless  func- 
tionaries who  had  fed  upon,  under  the  pretence  of  manag- 
ing, the  treasures  of  the  state.  But  this  salutary  and 
sweeping  reform  was  only  effected  to  enable  the  sover- 
eign to  pursue  uncontrolled  the  most  fatal  of  all  passions, 
that  of  war.  Nothing  can  better  paint  the  true  character  of 
this  haughty  and  impetuous  prince  than  his  crest  (a  branch 
of  holly),  and  his  motto,  ""Who  touches  it,  pricks  himself." 
Charles  had  conceived  a  furious  and  not  ill-founded  hatred 
for  his  base  yet  formidable  neighbor  and  rival,  Louis  XI.  of 
France.  The  latter  had  succeeded  in  obtaining  from  Philip 
the  restitution  of  some  towns  in  Picardy;  cause  sufficient  to 
excite  the  resentment  of  his  inflammable  successor,  who, 
during  his  father's  lifetime,  took  open  part  with  some  of 
the  vassals  of  France  in  a  temporary  struggle  against  the 
throne.  Louis,  who  had  been  worsted  in  a  combat  where 
both  he  and  Charles  bore  a  part,  was  not  behindhand  in  his 
hatred.  But  inasmuch  as  one  was  haughty,  audacious,  and 
intemperate,  the  other  was  cunning,  cool,  and  treacherous. 
Charles  was  the  proudest,  most  daring,  and  most  unman- 
ageable prince  that  ever  made  the  sword  the  type  and  the 
guarantee  of  greatness;  Louis  the  most  subtle,  dissimulat- 
ing, and  treacherous  king  that  ever  wove  in  his  closet  a 
tissue  of  hollow  diplomacy  and  bad  faith  in  government. 
The  struggle  between  these  sovereigns  was  unequal  only  in 
respect  to  this  difference  of  character;  for  France,  subdi- 


TO    THE    DEATH    OF    PHILIP    THE    FAIR  71 

vided  as  it  still  was,  and  exhausted  by  the  wars  with  Eng- 
land, was  not  comparable,  either  as  regarded  men,  money, 
or  the  other  resources  of  the  state,  to  the  compact  and 
prosperous  dominions  of  Burgundy. 

Charles  showed  some  symptoms  of  good  sense  and  great- 
ness of  mind,  soon  after  his  accession  to  power,  that  gave 
a  false  coloring  to  his  disposition,  and  encouraged  illusory 
hopes  as  to  his  future  career.  Scarcely  was  he  proclaimed 
count  of  Flanders  at  Ghent,  when  the  populace,  surround- 
ing his  hotel,  absolutely  insisted  on  and  extorted  his  consent 
to  the  restitution  of  their  ancient  privileges.  Furious  as 
Charles  was  at  this  bold  proof  of  insubordination,  he  did 
not  revenge  it;  and  he  treated  with  equal  indulgence  the 
city  of  Mechlin,  which  had  expelled  its  governor  and  razed 
the  citadel.  The  people  of  Liege,  having  revolted  against 
their  bishop,  Louis  of  Bourbon,  who  was  closely  connected 
with  the  House  of  Burgundy,  were  defeated  by  the  duke  in 
1467,  but  he  treated  them  with  clemency;  and  immediately 
after  this  event,  in  February,  1468,  he  concluded  with  Ed- 
ward IV.  of  England  an  alliance,  offensive  and  defensive, 
against  France. 

The  real  motive  of  this  alliance  was  rivalry  and  hatred 
against  Louis.  The  ostensible  pretext  was  this  monarch's 
having  made  war  against  the  duke  of  Brittany,  Charles's  old 
ally  in  the  short  contest  in  which  he,  while  yet  but  count, 
had  measured  his  strength  with  his  rival  after  he  became 
king.  The  present  union  between  England  and  Burgundy 
was  too  powerful  not  to  alarm  Louis ;  he  demanded  an  ex- 
planatory conference  with  Charles,  and  the  town  of  Peronne 
in  Picardy  was  fixed  on  for  their  meeting.  Louis,  willing  to 
imitate  the  boldness  of  his  rival,  who  had  formerly  come  to 
meet  him  in  the  very  midst  of  his  army,  now  came  to  the 
rendezvous  almost  alone.  But  he  was  severely  mortified  and 
near  paying  a  greater  penalty  than  fright  for  this  hazard- 
ous conduct.  The  duke,  having  received  intelligence  of  a 
new  revolt  at  Liege  excited  by  some  of  the  agents  of  France, 
instantly  made  Louis  prisoner,  in  defiance  of  every  law  of 


72  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

honor  or  fair  dealing.  The  excess  of  his  rage  and  hatred 
might  have  carried  him  to  a  more  disgraceful  extremity, 
had  not  Louis,  by  force  of  bribery,  gained  over  some  of  his 
most  influential  counsellors,  who  succeeded  in  appeasing 
his  rage.  He  contented  himself  with  humiliating,  when 
he  was  disposed  to  punish.  He  forced  his  captive  to  accom- 
pany him  to  Liege,  and  witness  the  ruin  of  this  unfortunate 
town,  which  he  delivered  over  to  plunder ;  and  having  given 
this  lesson  to  Louis,  he  set  him  at  liberty. 

From  this  period  there  was  a  marked  and  material  change 
in  the  conduct  of  Charles.  He  had  been  previously  moved 
by  sentiments  of  chivalry  and  notions  of  greatness.  But 
sullied  by  his  act  of  public  treachery  and  violence  toward 
the  monarch  who  had,  at  least  in  seeming,  manifested  un- 
limited confidence  in  his  honor,  a  secret  sense  of  shame  em- 
bittered his  feelings  and  soured  his  temper.  He  became  so 
insupportable  to  those  around  him  that  he  was  abandoned 
by  several  of  his  best  officers,  and  even  by  his  natural 
brother,  Baldwin  of  Burgundy,  who  passed  over  to  the  side 
of  Louis.  Charles  was  at  this  time  embarrassed  by  the  ex- 
pense of  entertaining  and  maintaining  Edward  IV.  and  nu- 
merous English  exiles,  who  were  forced  to  take  refuge  in  the 
Netherlands  by  the  successes  of  the  earl  of  Warwick,  who 
had  replaced  Henry  VI.  on  the  throne.  Charles  at  the  same 
time  held  out  to  several  princes  in  Europe  hopes  of  bestow- 
ing on  them  in  marriage  his  only  daughter  an/1  heiress 
Mary,  while  he  privately  assured  his  friends,  if  his  courtiers 
and  ministers  may  be  so  called,  "that  he  never  meant  to 
have  a  son-in-law  until  he  was  disposed  to  make  himself  a 
monk.""  In  a  word,  he  was  no  longer  guided  by  any  prin- 
ciple but  that  of  fierce  and  brutal  selfishness. 

In  this  mood  he  soon  became  tired  of  the  service  of  his 
nobles  and  of  the  national  militia,  who  only  maintained  to- 
ward him  a  forced  and  modified  obedience  founded  on  the 
usages  and  rights  of  their  several  provinces;  and  he  took 
into  his  pay  all  sorts  of  adventurers  and  vagabonds  who 
were  willing  to  submit  to  him  as  their  absolute  master. 


TO    THE    DEATH    OF    PHILIP    THE    FAIR  73 

When  the  taxes  necessary  for  the  support  and  pay  of  these 
bands  of  mercenaries  caused  the  people  to  murmur,  Charles 
laughed  at  their  complaints,  and  severely  punished  some  of 
the  most  refractory.  He  then  entered  France  at  the  head 
of  his  army,  to  assist  the  duke  of  Brittany ;  but  at  the  mo- 
ment when  nothing  seemed  to  oppose  the  most  extensive 
views  of  his  ambition  he  lost  by  his  hot-brained  caprice 
every  advantage  within  his  easy  reach:  he  chose  to  sit 
down  before  Beauvais ;  and  thus  made  of  this  town,  which 
lay  in  his  road,  a  complete  stumbling-block  on  his  path  of 
conquest. 

The  time  he  lost  before  its  walls  caused  the  defeat 
and  ruin  of  his  unsupported,  or  as  might  be  said  his  aban- 
doned, ally,  who  made  the  best  terms  he  could  with  Louis; 
and  thus  Charles's  presumption  and  obstinacy  paralyzed  all 
the  efforts  of  his  courage  and  power.  But  he  soon  after- 
ward acquired  the  duchy  of  Guelders  from  the  old  Duke 
Arnoul,  who  had  been  temporarily  despoiled  of  it  by  his 
son  Adolphus.  It  was  almost  a  hereditary  consequence  in 
this  family  that  the  children  should  revolt  and  rebel  against 
their  parents.  Adolphus  had  the  effrontery  to  found  his  jus- 
tification on  the  argument  that  his  father  having  reigned 
forty-four  years,  he  was  fully  entitled  to  his  share — a  fine 
practical  authority  for  greedy  and  expectant  heirs.  The  old 
father  replied  to  this  reasoning  by  offering  to  meet  his  son 
in  single  combat.  Charles  cut  short  the  affair  by  making 
Adolphus  prisoner  and  seizing  on  the  disputed  territory;  for 
which  he,  however,  paid  Arnoul  the  sum  of  two  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand  florins. 

After  this  acquisition  Charles  conceived  and  had  much 
at  heart  the  design  of  becoming  king,  the  first  time  that  the 
Netherlands  were  considered  sufficiently  important  and  con- 
solidated to  entitle  their  possessor  to  that  title. .  To  lead  to 
this  object  he  offered  to  the  emperor  of  Germany  the  hand 
of  his  daughter  Mary  for  his  son  Maximilian.  The  emperor 
acceded  to  this  proposition,  and  repaired  to  the  city  of  Treves 

to  meet  Charles  and  countenance  his  coronation.     But  the 

Holland. — 4 


74  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

insolence  and  selfishness  of  the  latter  put  an  end  to  the  proj- 
ect. He  humiliated  the  emperor,  who  was  of  a  niggardly 
and  mean-spirited  disposition,  by  appearing  with  a  train  so 
numerous  and  sumptuous  as  totally  to  eclipse  the  imperial 
retinue;  and  deeply  offended  him  by  wishing  to  postpone 
the  marriage,  from  his  jealousy  of  creating  for  himself  a 
rival  in  a  son-in-law  who  might  embitter  his  old  age  as  he 
had  done  that  of  his  own  father.  The  mortified  emperor 
quitted  the  place  in  high  dudgeon,  and  the  projected  king- 
dom was  doomed  to  a  delay  of  some  centuries. 

Charles,  urged  on  by  the  double  motive  of  thirst  for  ag- 
grandizement and  vexation  at  his  late  failure,  attempted, 
under  pretext  of  some  internal  dissensions,  to  gain  possession 
of  Cologne  and  its  territory,  which  belonged  to  the  empire ; 
and  at  the  same  time  planned  the  invasion  of  France,  in 
concert  with  his  brother-in-law  Edward  IV. ,  who  had  recov- 
ered possession  of  England.  But  the  town  of  Nuys,  in  the 
archbishopric  of  Cologne,  occupied  him  a  full  year  before 
its  walls.  The  emperor,  who  came  to  its  succor,  actually 
besieged  the  besiegers  in  their  camp;  and  the  dispute  was 
terminated  by  leaving  it  to  the  arbitration  of  the  pope's 
legate,  and  placing  the  contested  town  in  his  keeping.  This 
half  triumph  gained  by  Charles  saved  Louis  wholly  from 
destruction.  Edward,  who  had  landed  in  France  with  a 
numerous  force,  seeing  no  appearance  of  his  Burgundian 
allies,  made  peace  with  Louis;  and  Charles,  who  arrived 
in  all  haste,  but  not  till  after  the  treaty  was  signed,  up- 
braided and  abused  the  English  king,  and  turned  a  warm 
friend  into  an  inveterate  enemy. 

Louis,  whose  crooked  policy  had  so  far  succeeded  on  all 
occasions,  now  seemed  to  favor  Charles's  plans  of  aggran- 
dizement, and  to  recognize  his  pretended  right  to  Lorraine, 
which  legitimately  belonged  to  the  empire,  and  the  invasion 
of  which  by  Charles  would  be  sure  to  set  him  at  variance 
with  the  whole  of  Germany.  The  infatuated  duke,  blind 
to  the  ruin  to  which  he  was  thus  hurrying,  abandoned  to 
Louis,  in  return  for  this  insidious  support,  the  constable 


TO   THE   DEATH    OF   PHILIP   THE   FAIR  75 

of  St.  Pol;  a  nobleman  who  had  long  maintained  his  inde- 
pendence in  Picardy,  where  he  had  large  possessions,  and 
who  was  fitted  to  be  a  valuable  friend  or  formidable  enemy 
to  either.  Charles  now  marched  against,  and  soon  over- 
came, Lorraine.  Thence  he  turned  his  army  against  the 
Swiss,  who  were  allies  to  the  conquered  province,  but  who 
sent  the  most  submissive  dissuasions  to  the  invader.  They 
begged  for  peace,  assuring  Charles  that  their  romantic  but 
sterile  mountains  were  not  altogether  worth  the  bridles  of 
his  splendidly  equipped  cavalry.  But  the  more  they  hum- 
bled themselves,  the  higher  was  his  haughtiness  raised.  It 
appeared  that  he  had  at  this  period  conceived  the  project 
of  uniting  in  one  common  conquest  the  ancient  dominions  of 
Lothaire  I.,  who  had  possessed  the  whole  of  the  countries 
traversed  by  the  Rhine,  the  Rhone,  and  the  Po ;  and  he  even 
spoke  of  passing  the  Alps,  like  Hannibal,  for  the  invasion  of 
Italy. 

Switzerland  was,  by  moral  analogy  as  well  as  physical 
fact,  the  rock  against  which  these  extravagant  projects  were 
shattered.  The  army  of  Charles,  which  engaged  the  hardy 
mountaineers  in  the  gorges  of  the  Alps  near  the  town  of 
Granson,  were  literally  crushed  to  atoms  by  the  stones  and 
fragments  of  granite  detached  from  the  heights  and  hurled 
down  upon  their  heads.  Charles,  after  this  defeat,  returned 
to  the  charge  six  weeks  later,  having  rallied  his  army  and 
drawn  reinforcements  from  Burgundy.  But  Louis  had  de- 
spatched a  body  of  cavalry  to  the  Swiss — a  force  in  which 
they  were  before  deficient;  and  thus  augmented,  their  army 
amounted  to  thirty-four  thousand  men.  They  took  up  a 
position,  skilfully  chosen,  on  the  borders  of  the  Lake  of 
Morat,  where  they  were  attacked  by  Charles  at  the  head 
of  sixty  thousand  soldiers  of  all  ranks.  The  result  was  the 
total  defeat  of  the  latter,  with  the  loss  of  ten  thousand  killed, 
whose  bones,  gathered  into  an  immense  heap,  and  bleaching 
in  the  winds,  remained  for  above  throe  centuries ;  a  terrible 
monument  of  rashness  and  injustice  on  the  one  hand,  and 
of  patriotism  and  valor  on  the  other. 


76  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

Charles  was  now  plunged  into  a  state  of  profound  mel- 
ancholy; but  he  soon  burst  from  this  gloomy  mood  into 
one  of  renewed  fierceness  and  fatal  desperation.  Nine 
months  after  the  battle  of  Morat  he  re-entered  Lorraine, 
at  the  head  of  an  army,  not  composed  of  his  faithful  militia 
of  the  Netherlands,  but  of  those  mercenaries  in  whom  it  was 
madness  to  place  trust.  The  reinforcements  meant  to  be 
despatched  to  him  by  those  provinces  were  kept  back  by  the 
artifices  of  the  count  of  Campo  Basso,  an  Italian  who  com- 
manded his  cavalry,  and  who  only  gained  his  confidence 
basely  to  betray  it.  Rene,  duke  of  Lorraine,  at  the  head 
of  the  confederate  forces,  offered  battle  to  Charles  under 
the  walls  of  Nancy;  and  the  night  before  the  combat  Campo 
Basso  went  over  to  the  enemy  with  the  troops  under  his 
command.  Still  Charles  had  the  way  open  for  retreat. 
Fresh  troops  from  Burgundy  and  Flanders  were  on  their 
march  to  join  him ;  but  he  would  not  be  dissuaded  from  his 
resolution  to  fight,  and  he  resolved  to  try  his  fortune  once 
more  with  his  dispirited  and  shattered  army.  On  this  oc- 
casion the  fate  of  Charles  was  decided,  and  the  fortune  of 
Louis  triumphant.  The  rash  and  ill-fated  duke  lost  both 
the  battle  and  his  life.  His  body,  mutilated  with  wounds, 
was  found  the  next  day,  and  buried  with  great  pomp  in  the 
town  of  Nancy,  by  the  orders  of  the  generous  victor,  the 
duke  of  Lorraine. 

Thus  perished  the  last  prince  of  the  powerful  House  of 
Burgundy.  Charles  left  to  his  only  daughter,  then  eighteen 
years  of  age,  the  inheritance  of  his  extensive  dominions,  and 
with  them  that  of  the  hatred  and  jealousy  which  he  had 
so  largely  excited.  External  spoliation  immediately  com- 
menced, and  internal  disunion  quickly  followed.  Louis 
XI.  seized  on  Burgundy  and  a  part  of  Artois,  as  fiefs  de- 
volving to  the  crown  in  default  of  male  issue.  Several  of 
the  provinces  refused  to  pay  the  new  subsidies  commanded 
hi  the  name  of  Mary ;  Flanders  alone  showing  a  disposition 
to  uphold  the  rights  of  the  young  princess.  The  states  were 
assembled  at  Ghent,  and  ambassadors  sent  to  the  king  of 


TO    THE    DEATH    OF  PHILIP    THE    FAIR  77 

France,  in  the  hopes  of  obtaining  peace  on  reasonable  terms. 
Louis,  true  to  his  system  of  subtle  perfidy,  placed  before  one 
of  those  ambassadors,  the  burgomaster  of  Ghent,  a  letter 
from  the  inexperienced  princess,  which  proved  her  intention 
to  govern  by  the  counsel  of  her  father's  ancient  ministers 
rather  than  by  that  of  the  deputies  of  the  nation.  This  was 
enough  to  decide  the  indignant  Flemings  to  render  them- 
selves at  once  masters  of  the  government  and  get  rid  of  the 
ministers  whom  they  hated.  Two  Burgundian  nobles,  Hu- 
gonet  and  Imbercourt,  were  arrested,  accused  of  treason, 
and  beheaded  under  the  very  eyes  of  their  agonized  and 
outraged  mistress,  who  threw  herself  before  the  frenzied 
multitude,  vainly  imploring  mercy  for  these  innocent  men. 
The  people  having  thus  completely  gained  the  upper  hand 
over  the  Burgundian  influence,  Mary  was  sovereign  of  the 
Netherlands  but  in  name. 

It  would  have  now  been  easy  for  Louis  XI.  to  have  ob- 
tained for  the  dauphin,  his  son,  the  hand  of  this  hitherto 
unfortunate  but  interesting  princess;  but  he  thought  him- 
self sufficiently  strong  and  cunning  to  gain  possession  of  her 
states  without  such  an  alliance.  Mary,  however,  thus  in 
some  measure  disdained,  if  not  actually  rejected,  by  Louis, 
soon  after  married  her  first-intended  husband,  Maximilian 
of  Austria,  son  of  the  emperor  Frederick  III. ;  a  prince  so 
absolutely  destitute,  in  consequence  of  his  father's  parsi- 
mony, that  she  was  obliged  to  borrow  money  from  the  towns 
of  Flanders  to  defray  the  expenses  of  his  suite.  Neverthe- 
less he  seemed  equally  acceptable  to  his  bride  and  to  his  new 
subjects.  They  not  only  supplied  all  his  wants,  but  enabled 
him  to  maintain  the  war  against  Louis  XI.,  whom  they 
defeated  at  the  battle  of  Guinegate  in  Picardy,  and  forced 
to  make  peace  on  more  favorable  terms  than  they  had  hoped 
for.  But  these  wealthy  provinces  were  not  more  zealous  for 
the  national  defence  than  bent  on  the  maintenance  of  their 
local  privileges,  which  Maximilian  little  understood,  and 
sympathized  with  less.  He  was  bred  in  the  school  of  abso- 
lute despotism ;  and  his  duchess  having  met  with  a  too  early 


78  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

death  by  a  fall  from  her  horse  in  the  year  1484,  he  could  not 
even  succeed  in  obtaining  the  nomination  of  guardian  to  his 
own  children  without  passing  through  a  year  of  civil  war. 
His  power  being  almost  nominal  in  the  northern  provinces, 
he  vainly  attempted  to  suppress  the  violence  of  the  factions 
of  Hoeks  and  Kaabeljauws.  In  Flanders  his  authority  was 
openly  resisted.  The  turbulent  towns  of  that  country,  and 
particularly  Bruges,  taking  umbrage  at  a  government  half 
German,  half  Burgundian,  and  altogether  hateful  to  the 
people,  rose  up  against  Maximilian,  seized  on  his  person, 
imprisoned  him  in  a  house  which  still  exists,  and  put  to 
death  his  most  faithful  followers.  But  the  fury  of  Ghent 
and  other  places  becoming  still  more  outrageous,  Maximilian 
asked  as  a  favor  from  his  rebel  subjects  of  Bruges  to  be 
guarded  while  a  prisoner  by  them  alone.  He  was  then  king 
of  the  Romans,  and  all  Europe  became  interested  in  his  fate. 
The  pope  addressed  a  brief  to  the  town  of  Bruges,  demand- 
ing his  deliverance.  But  the  burghers  were  as  inflexible  as 
factious ;  and  they  at  length  released  him,  but  not  until  they 
had  concluded  with  him  and  the  assembled  states  a  treaty 
which  most  amply  secured  the  enjoyment  of  their  privileges 
and  the  pardon  of  their  rebellion. 

But  these  kind  of  compacts  were  never  observed  by  the 
princes  of  those  days  beyond  the  actual  period  of  their  ca- 
pacity to  violate  them.  The  emperor  having  entered  the 
Netherlands  at  the  head  of  forty  thousand  men,  Maximilian, 
so  supported,  soon  showed  his  contempt  for  the  obligations 
he  had  sworn  to,  and  had  recourse  to  force  for  the  extension 
of  his  authority.  The  valor  of  the  Flemings  and  the  mili- 
tary talents  of  their  leader,  Philip  of  Cleves,  thwarted  all 
his  projects,  and  a  new  compromise  was  entered  into.  Flan- 
ders paid  a  large  subsidy,  and  held  fast  her  rights.  The 
German  troops  were  sent  into  Holland,  and  employed  for 
the  extinction  of  the  Hoeks ;  who,  as  they  formed  by  far  the 
weaker  faction,  were  now  soon  destroyed.  That  province, 
which  had  been  so  long  distracted  by  its  intestine  feuds,  and 
which  had  consequently  played  but  an  insignificant  part  in 


TO    THE    DEATH    OF.  PHILIP   THE    FAIR  79 

the  transactions  of  the  Netherlands,  now  resumed  its  place; 
and  acquired  thenceforth  new  honor,  till  it  at  length  came 
to  figure  in  all  the  importance  of  historical  distinction. 

The  situation  of  the  Netherlands  was  now  extremely 
precarious  and  difficult  to  manage,  during  the  unstable  sway 
of  a  government  so  weak  as  Maximilian '3.  But  he  having 
succeeded  his  father  on  the  imperial  throne  in  1493,  and  his 
son  Philip  having  been  proclaimed  the  following  year  duke 
and  count  of  the  various  provinces  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  a 
more  pleasing  prospect  was  offered  to  the  people.  Philip, 
young,  handsome,  and  descended  by  his  mother  from  the 
ancient  sovereigns  of  the  country,  was  joyfully  hailed  by 
all  the  towns.  He  did  not  belie  the  hopes  so  enthusiastically 
expressed.  He  had  the  good  sense  to  renounce  all  preten- 
sions to  Friesland,  the  fertile  source  of  many  preceding 
quarrels  and  sacrifices.  He  re-established  the  ancient  com- 
mercial relations  with  England,  to  which  country  Maximil- 
ian had  given  mortal  offence  by  sustaining  the  imposture 
of  Perkin  "Warbeck.  Philip  also  consulted  the  states-general 
on  his  projects  of  a  double  alliance  between  himself  and  his 
sister  with  the  son  and  daughter  of  Ferdinand,  king  of 
Aragon,  and  Isabella,  queen  of  Castile ;  and  from  this  wise 
precaution  the  project  soon  became  one  of  national  partiality 
instead  of  private  or  personal  interest.  In  this  manner  com- 
plete harmony  was  established  between  the  young  prince 
and  the  inhabitants  of  the  Netherlands.  All  the  ills  pro- 
duced by  civil  war  disappeared  with  immense  rapidity  in 
Flanders  and  Brabant,  as  soon  as  peace  was  thus  consoli- 
dated. Even  Holland,  though  it  had  particularly  felt  the 
scourge  of  these  dissensions,  and  suffered  severely  from 
repeated  inundations,  began  to  recover.  Yet  for  all  this, 
Philip  can  be  scarcely  called  a  good  prince :  his  merits  were 
negative  rather  than  real.  But  that  sufficed  for  the  nation; 
which  found  in  the  nullity  of  its  sovereign  no  obstacle  to  the 
resumption  of  that  prosperous  career  which  had  been  checked 
by  the  despotism  of  the  House  of  Burgundy,  and  the  attempts 
of  Maximilian  to  continue  the  same  system. 


80  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

The  reign  of  Philip,  unfortunately  a  short  one,  was  ren- 
dered remarkable  by  two  intestine  quarrels;  one  in  Fries- 
land,  the  other  in  Guelders.  The  Frisons,  who  had  been 
so  isolated  from  the  more  important  affairs  of  Europe  that 
they  were  in  a  manner  lost  sight  of  by  history  for  several 
centuries,  had  nevertheless  their  full  share  of  domestic  dis- 
putes; too  long,  too  multifarious,  and  too  minute,  to  allow 
us  to  give  more  than  this  brief  notice  of  their  existence. 
But  finally,  about  the  period  of  Philip's  accession,  eastern 
Friesland  had  chosen  for  its  count  a  gentleman  of  the 
country  surnamed  Edzart,  who  fixed  the  headquarters  of 
his  military  government  at  Embden.  The  sight  of  such  an 
elevation  in  an  individual  whose  pretensions  he  thought  far 
inferior  to  his  own  induced  Albert  of  Saxony,  who  had  well 
served  Maximilian  against  the  refractory  Flemings,  to  de- 
mand as  his  reward  the  title  of  stadtholder  or  hereditary 
governor  of  Friesland.  But  it  was  far  easier  for  the  em- 
peror to  accede  to  this  request  than  for  his  favorite  to  put 
the  grant  into  effect.  The  Frisons,  true  to  their  old  char- 
acter, held  firm  to  their  privileges,  and  fought  for  their 
maintenance  with  heroic  courage.  Albert,  furious  at  this 
resistance,  had  the  horrid  barbarity  to  cause  to  be  impaled 
the  chief  burghers  of  the  town  of  Leuwaarden,  which  he 
had  taken  by  assault.  But  he  himself  died  in  the  year 
1500,  without  succeeding  in  his  projects  of  an  ambition  un- 
just in  its  principle  and  atrocious  in  its  practice. 

The  war  of  Guelders  was  of  a  totally  different  nature. 
In  this  case  it  was  not  a  question  of  popular  resistance  to  a 
tyrannical  nomination,  but  of  patriotic  fidelity  to  the  reign- 
ing family.  Adolphus,  the  duke  who  had  dethroned  his 
father,  had  died  in  Flanders,  leaving  a  son  who  had  been 
brought  up  almost  a  captive  as  long  as  Maximilian  governed 
the  states  of  his  inheritance.  This  young  man,  called  Charles 
of  Egmont,  and  who  is  honored  in  the  history  of  his  coun- 
try under  the  title  of  the  Achilles  of  Guelders,  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  French  during  the  combat  in  which  he  made 
his  first  essay  in  arms.  The  town  of  Guelders  unanimously 


TO   THE    DEATH   OF   PHILIP   THE   FAIR  81 

joined  to  pay  his  ransom ;  and  as  soon  as  he  was  at  liberty 
they  one  and  all  proclaimed  him  duke.  The  emperor  Philip 
and  the  Germanic  diet  in  vain  protested  against  this  meas- 
ure, and  declared  Charles  a  usurper.  The  spirit  of  justice 
and  of  liberty  spoke  more  loudly  than  the  thunders  of  their 
ban ;  and  the  people  resolved  to  support  to  the  last  this  scion 
of  an  ancient  race,  glorious  in  muph  of  its  conduct,  though 
often  criminal  in  many  of  its  members.  Charles  of  Egmont 
found  faithful  friends  in  his  devoted  subjects ;  and  he  main- 
tained his  rights,  sometimes  with,  sometimes  without,  the 
assistance  of  France — making  up  for  his  want  of  numbers 
by  energy  and  enterprise.  We  cannot  follow  this  warlike 
prince  in  the  long  series  of  adventures  which  consolidated 
his  power ;  nor  stop  to  depict  his  daring  adherents  on  land, 
who  caused  the  whole  of  Holland  to  tremble  at  their  deeds; 
nor  his  pirates — the  chief  of  whom,  Long  Peter,  called  him- 
self king  of  the  Zuyder  Zee.  But  amid  all  the  consequent 
troubles  of  such  a  struggle,  it  is  marvellous  to  find  Charles 
of  Egmont  upholding  his  country  in  a  state  of  high  prosper- 
ity, and  leaving  it  at  his  death  almost  as  rich  as  Holland 
itself. 

The  incapacity  of  Philip  the  Fair  doubtless  contributed 
to  cause  him  the  loss  of  this  portion  of  his  dominions.  This 
prince,  after  his  first  acts  of  moderation  and  good  sense, 
was  remarkable  only  as  being  the  father  of  Charles  V. 
The  remainder  of  his  life  was  worn  out  in  undignified  pleas- 
ures; and  he  died  almost  suddenly,  in  the  year  1506,  at 
Burgos  in  Castile,  whither  he  had  repaired  to  pay  a  visit 
to  his  brother-in-law,  the  king  of  Spain. 


CHAPTER  VI 

FROM  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  MARGARET  OP  AUSTRIA  TO  THE 
ABDICATION   OF   THE   EMPEROR    CHARLES  V. 

A.D.  1506-1556 

PHILIP  being  dead,  and  his  wife,  Joanna  of  Spain, 
having  become  mad  from  grief  at  his  loss,  after 
nearly  losing  her  senses  from  jealousy  during  his 
life,  the  regency  of  the  Netherlands  reverted  to  Maximilian, 
who  immediately  named  his  daughter  Margaret  stadthold- 
eress  of  the  country.  This  princess,  scarcely  twenty-seven 
years  of  age,  had  been,  like  the  celebrated  Jacqueline  of 
Bavaria,  already  three  times  married,  and  was  now  again 
a  widow.  Her  first  husband,  Charles  VIII.  of  France,  had 
broken  from  his  contract  of  marriage  before  its  consumma- 
tion ;  her  second,  the  Infante  of  Spain,  died  immediately  after 
their  union ;  and  her  third,  the  duke  of  Savoy,  left  her  again 
a  widow  after  three  years  of  wedded  life.  She  was  a  woman 
of  talent  and  courage ;  both  proved  by  the  couplet  she  com- 
posed for  her  own  epitaph,  at  the  very  moment  of  a  danger- 
ous accident  which  happened  during  her  journey  into  Spain 
to  join  her  second  affianced  spouse. 

"Ci-git  Margot  la  gente  demoiselle, 
Qui  eut  deux  maris,  et  si  mourut  pucelle." 

"Here  gentle  Margot  quietly  is  laid, 
Who  had  two  husbands,  and  yet  died  a  maid." 

She  was  received  with  the  greatest  joy  by  the  people  of 
the  Netherlands;  and  she  governed  them  as  peaceably  as 
circumstances  allowed.  Supported  by  England,  she  firmly 
maintained  her  authority  against  the  threats  of  France;  and 

(32) 


TO    THE    ABDICATION    OF    CHARLES    V.  83 

she  carried  on  in  person  all  the  negotiations  between  Louis 
XII.,  Maximilian,  the  pope  Julius  II.,  and  Ferdinand  of 
Aragon,  for  the  famous  League  of  Venice.  These  negotia- 
tions took  place  in  1508,  at  Cambray;  where  Margaret,  if 
we  are  to  credit  an  expression  to  that  effect  in  one  of  her 
letters,  was  more  than  once  on  the  point  of  having  serious 
differences  with  the  cardinal  of  Amboise,  minister  of  Louis 
XII.  But,  besides  her  attention  to  the  interests  of  her 
father  on  this  important  occasion,  she  also  succeeded  in 
repressing  the  rising  pretensions  of  Charles  of  Egmont; 
and,  assisted  by  the  interference  of  the  king  of  France, 
she  obliged  him  to  give  up  some  places  in  Holland  which 
he  illegally  held. 

From  this  period  the  alliance  between  England  and 
Spain  raised  the  commerce  and  manufactures  of  the  south- 
ern provinces  of  the  Netherlands  to  a  high  degree  of  pros- 
perity, while  the  northern  parts  of  the  country  were  still 
kept  down  by  then*  various  dissensions.  Holland  was  at 
war  with  the  Hanseatic  towns.  The  Frisons  continued  to 
struggle  for  freedom  against  the  heirs  of  Albert  of  Saxony. 
Utrecht  was  at  variance  with  its  bishop,  and  finally  recog- 
nized Charles  of  Egmont  as  its  protector.  The  consequence 
of  all  these  causes  was  that  the  south  took  the  start  in  a 
course  of  prosperity,  which  was,  however,  soon  to  become 
common  to  the  whole  nation. 

A  new  rupture  with  France,  in  1513,  united  Maximilian, 
Margaret,  and  Henry  VIII.  of  England,  in  one  common 
cause.  An  English  and  Belgian  army,  in  which  Maximil- 
ian figured  as  a  spectator  (taking  care  to  be  paid  by  Eng- 
land), marched  for  the  destruction  of  Therouenne,  and  de- 
feated and  dispersed  the  French  at  the  battle  of  Spurs.  But 
Louis  XII.  soon  persuaded  Henry  to  make  a  separate  peace ; 
and  the  unconquerable  duke  of  Guelders  made  Margaret  and 
the  emperor  pay  the  penalty  of  their  success  against  France. 
He  pursued  his  victories  in  Friesland,  and  forced  the  coun- 
try to  recognize  him  as  stadtholder  of  Groningen,  its  chief 
town ;  while  the  duke  of  Saxony  at  length  renounced  to  an- 


84  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

other  his  unjust  claim  on  a  territory  which  engulfed  both 
his  armies  and  his  treasure. 

About  the  same  epoch  (1515),  young  Charles,  son  of 
Philip  the  Fair,  having  just  attained  his  fifteenth  year, 
was  inaugurated  duke  of  Brabant  and  count  of  Flanders 
and  Holland,  having  purchased  the  presumed  right  of  Sax- 
ony to  the  sovereignty  of  Friesland.  In  the  following  yea* 
he  was  recognized  as  prince  of  Castile,  in  right  of  his 
mother,  who  associated  him  with  herself  in  the  royal  power 
— a  step  which  soon  left  her  merely  the  title  of  queen. 
Charles  procured  the  nomination  of  bishop  of  Utrecht  for 
Philip,  bastard  of  Burgundy,  which  made  that  province 
completely  dependent  on  him.  But  this  event  was  also 
one  of  general  and  lasting  importance  on  another  account. 
This  Philip  of  Burgundy  was  deeply  affected  by  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Reformation,  which  had  burst  forth  in  Ger- 
many. He  held  in  abhorrence  the  superstitious  observances 
of  the  Romish  Church,  and  set  his  face  against  the  celibacy 
of  the  clergy.  His  example  soon  influenced  his  whole  dio- 
cese, and  the  new  notions  on  points  of  religion  became 
rapidly  popular.  It  was  chiefly,  however,  in  Friesland 
that  the  people  embraced  the  opinions  of  Luther,  which 
were  quite  conformable  to  many  of  the  local  customs  of 
which  we  have  already  spoken.  The  celebrated  Edzard, 
count  of  eastern  Friesland,  openly  adopted  the  Reforma- 
tion. While  Erasmus  of  Rotterdam,  without  actually  pro- 
nouncing himself  a  disciple  of  Lutheranism,  effected  more 
than  all  its  advocates  to  throw  the  abuses  of  Catholicism 
into  discredit. 

We  may  here  remark  that,  during  the  government  of 
the  House  of  Burgundy,  the  clergy  of  the  Netherlands  had 
fallen  into  considerable  disrepute.  Intrigue  and  court  favor 
alone  had  the  disposal  of  the  benefices ;  while  the  career  of 
commerce  was  open  to  the  enterprise  of  every  spirited  and 
independent  competitor.  The  Reformation,  therefore,  in 
the  first  instance  found  but  a  slight  obstacle  in  the  oppo- 
sition of  a  slavish  and  ignorant  clergy,  and  its  progress  was 


TO   THE    ABDICATION    OF   CHARLES   V.  85 

all  at  once  prodigious.  The  refusal  of  the  dignity  of  em- 
peror by  Frederick  "the  Wise,"  duke  of  Saxony,  to  whom 
it  was  offered  by  the  electors,  was  also  an  event  highly 
favorable  to  the  new  opinions;  for  Francis  I.  of  France, 
and  Charles,  already  king  of  Spain  and  sovereign  of  the 
Netherlands,  both  claiming  the  succession  to  the  empire,  a 
sort  of  interregnum  deprived  the  disputed  dominions  of 
a  chief  who  might  lay  the  heavy  hand  of  power  on  the 
new-springing  doctrines  of  Protestantism.  At  length  the 
intrigues  of  Charles,  and  his  pretensions  as  grandson  of 
Maximilian,  having  caused  him  to  be  chosen  emperor,  a 
desperate  rivalry  resulted  between  him  and  the  French 
king,  which  for  a  while  absorbed  his  whole  attention  and 
occupied  all  his  power. 

From  the  earliest  appearance  of  the  Reformation,  the 
young  sovereign  of  so  many  states,  having  to  establish  his 
authority  at  the  two  extremities  of  Europe,  could  not  effi- 
ciently occupy  himself  in  resisting  the  doctrines  which,  de- 
spite their  dishonoring  epithet  of  heresy,  were  doomed  so 
soon  to  become  orthodox  for  a  great  part  of  the  Continent. 
While  Charles  vigorously  put  down  the  revolted  Spaniards, 
Luther  gained  new  proselytes  in  Germany;  so  that  the  very 
greatness  of  the  sovereignty  was  the  cause  of  his  impotency; 
and  while  Charles's  extent  of  dominion  thus  fostered  the 
growing  Reformation,  his  sense  of  honor  proved  the  safe- 
guard of  its  apostle.  The  intrepid  Luther,  boldly  ventur- 
ing to  appear  and  plead  its  cause  before  the  representative 
power  of  Germany  assembled  at  the  Diet  of  Worms,  was 
protected  by  the  guarantee  of  the  emperor;  unlike  the 
celebrated  and  unfortunate  John  Huss,  who  fell  a  victim 
to  his  own  confidence  and  the  bad  faith  of  Sigismund,  in 
the  year  1415. 

Charles  was  nevertheless  a  zealous  and  rigid  Catholic; 
and  in  the  Low  Countries,  where  his  authority  was  undis- 
puted, he  proscribed  the  heretics,  and  even  violated  the 
privileges  of  the  country  by  appointing  functionaries  for 
the  express  purpose  of  their  pursuit  and  punishment.  This 


36  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

imprudent  stretch  of  power  fostered  a  rising  spirit  of  oppo- 
sition ;  for,  though  entertaining  the  best  disposition  to  their 
young  prince,  the  people  deeply  felt  and  loudly  complained 
of  the  government ;  and  thus  the  germs  of  a  mighty  revolu- 
tion gradually  began  to  be  developed. 

Charles  V.  and  Francis  I.  had  been  rivals  for  dignity 
and  power,  and  they  now  became  implacable  personal  ene- 
mies. Young,  ambitious,  and  sanguine,  they  could  not, 
without  reciprocal  resentment,  pursue  in  the  same  field 
objects  essential  to  both.  Charles,  by  a  short  but  timely 
visit  to  England  in  1520,  had  the  address  to  gain  over  to 
his  cause  and  secure  for  his  purpose  the  powerful  interest 
of  Cardinal  Wolsey,  and  to  make  a  most  favorable  impres- 
sion on  Henry  VIII. ;  and  thus  strengthened,  he  entered 
on  the  struggle  against  his  less  wily  enemy  with  infinite 
advantage.  War  was  declared  on  frivolous  pretexts  in 
1521.  The  French  sustained  it  for  some  time  with  great 
valor;  but  Francis  being  obstinately  bent  on  the  conquest 
of  the  Milanais,  his  reverses  secured  the  triumph  of  his 
rival,  and  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  imperial  troops  at 
the  battle  of  Pavia  in  1525.  Charles's  dominions  in  the 
Netherlands  suffered  severely  from  the  naval  operations 
during  the  war;  for  the  French  cruisers  having,  on  re- 
peated occasions,  taken,  pillaged,  and  almost  destroyed  the 
principal  resources  of  the  herring  fishery,  Holland  and 
Zealand  felt  considerable  distress,  which  was  still  further 
augmented  by  the  famine  which  desolated  these  provinces 
in  1524. 

While  such  calamities  afflicted  the  northern  portion  of 
the  Netherlands,  Flanders  and  Brabant  continued  to  flour- 
ish, in  spite  of  temporary  embarrassments.  The  bishop  of 
Utrecht  having  died,  his  successor  found  himself  engaged  in 
a  hopeless  quarrel  with  his  new  diocese,  already  more  than 
half  converted  to  Protestantism;  and  to  gain  a  triumph 
over  these  enemies,  even  by  the  sacrifice  of  his  dignity,  he 
ceded  to  the  emperor  in  1527  the  whole  of  his  temporal 
power.  The  duke  of  Guelders,  who  then  occupied  the  city 


TO    THE    ABDICATION    OF    CHARLES    V.  87 

of  Utrecht,  redoubled  his  hostility  at  this  intelligence;  and 
after  having  ravaged  the  neighboring  country,  he  did  not 
lay  down  his  arms  till  the  subsequent  year,  having  first 
procured  an  honorable  and  advantageous  peace.  One  year 
more  saw  the  term  of  this  long-continued  state  of  warfare 
by  the  Peace  of  Cambray,  between  Charles  and  Francis, 
which  was  signed  on  the  5th  of  August,  1529. 

This  peace  once  concluded,  the  industry  and  persever- 
ance of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Netherlands  repaired  in  a 
short  time  the  evils  caused  by  so  many  wars,  excited  by 
the  ambition  of  princes,  but  in  scarcely  any  instance  for  the 
interest  of  the  country.  Little,  however,  was  wanting  to 
endanger  this  tranquillity,  and  to  excite  the  people  against 
each  other  on  the  score  of  religious  dissension.  The  sect 
of  Anabaptists,  whose  wild  opinions  were  subversive  of  all 
principles  of  social  order  and  every  sentiment  of  natural 
decency,  had  its  birth  in  Germany,  and  found  many  prose- 
lytes in  the  Netherlands.  John  Bokelszoon,  a  tailor  of  Ley- 
den,  one  of  the  number,  caused  himself  to  be  proclaimed 
king  of  Jerusalem ;  and  making  himself  master  of  the  town 
of  Munster,  sent  out  his  disciples  to  preach  in  the  neighbor- 
ing countries.  Mary,  sister  of  Charles  V.,  and  queen-dowa- 
ger of  Hungary,  the  stadtholderess  of  the  Netherlands,  pro- 
posed a  crusade  against  this  fanatic ;  which  was,  however, 
totally  discountenanced  by  the  states.  Encouraged  by  im- 
punity, whole  troops  of  these  infuriate  sectarians,  from  the 
very  extremities  of  Hainault,  put  themselves  into  motion 
for  Munster;  and  notwithstanding  the  colds  of  February, 
they  marched  along,  quite  naked,  according  to  the  system  of 
their  sect.  The  frenzy  of  these  fanatics  being  increased  by 
persecution,  they  projected  attempts  against  several  towns, 
and  particularly  against  Amsterdam.  They  were  easily 
defeated,  and  massacred  without  mercy ;  and  it  was  only  by 
multiplied  and  horrible  executions  that  their  numbers  were 
at  length  diminished.  John  Bokelszoon  held  out  at  Mun- 
ster,  which  was  besieged  by  the  bishop  and  the  neighboring 
princes.  This  profligate  fanatic,  who  had  married  no  less 


88  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

than  seventeen  women,  had  gained  considerable  influence 
over  the  insensate  multitude;  but  he  was  at  length  taken 
and  imprisoned  in  an  iron  cage — an  event  which  undeceived 
the  greater  number  of  those  whom  he  had  persuaded  of  his 
superhuman  powers. 

The  prosperity  of  the  southern  provinces  proceeded  rap- 
idly and  uninterruptedly,  in  consequence  of  the  great  and 
valuable  traffic  of  the  merchants  of  Flanders  and  Brabant, 
who  exchanged  their  goods  of  native  manufacture  for  the 
riches  drawn  from  America  and  India  by  the  Spaniards  and 
Portuguese.  Antwerp  had  succeeded  to  Bruges  as  the  gen- 
eral mart  of  commerce,  and  was  the  most  opulent  town  of  the 
north  of  Europe.  The  expenses,  estimated  at  one  hundred 
and  thirty  thousand  golden  crowns,  which  this  city  volun- 
tarily incurred,  to  do  honor  to  the  visit  of  Philip,  son  of 
Charles  V.,  are  cited  as  a  proof  of  its  wealth.  The  value 
of  the  wool  annually  imported  for  manufacture  into  the  Low 
Countries  from  England  and  Spain  was  calculated  at  four 
million  pieces  of  gold.  Their  herring  fishery  was  unrivalled ; 
for  even  the  Scotch,  on  whose  coasts  these  fish  were  taken, 
did  not  attempt  a  competition  with  the  Zealanders.  But  the 
chief  seat  of  prosperity  was  the  south.  Flanders  alone  was 
taxed  for  one-third  of  the  general  burdens  of  the  state. 
Brabant  paid  only  one-seventh  less  than  Flanders.  So  that 
these  two  rich  provinces  contributed  thirteen  out  of  twenty- 
one  parts  of  the  general  contribution ;  and  all  the  rest  com- 
bined but  eight.  A  search  for  further  or  minuter  proofs 
of  the  comparative  state  of  the  various  divisions  of  the  coun- 
try would  be  superfluous. 

The  perpetual  quarrels  of  Charles  V.  with  Francis  I.  and 
Charles  of  Guelders  led,  as  may  be  supposed,  to  a  repeated 
state  of  exhaustion,  which  forced  the  princes  to  pause,  till 
the  people  recovered  strength  and  resources  for  each  fresh 
encounter.  Charles  rarely  appeared  in  the  Netherlands; 
fixing  his  residence  chiefly  in  Spain,  and  leaving  to  his  sis- 
ter the  regulation  of  those  distant  provinces.  One  of  his 
occasional  visits  was  for  the  purpose  of  inflicting  a  terrible 


TO    THE   ABDICATION   OF   CHARLES    V.  89 

example  upon  them.  The  people  of  Ghent,  suspecting  an 
improper  or  improvident  application  of  the  funds  they  had 
furnished  for  a  new  campaign,  offered  themselves  to  march 
against  the  French,  instead  of  being  forced  to  pay  their 
quota  of  some  further  subsidy.  The  government  having 
rejected  this  proposal,  a  sedition  was  the  result,  at  the  mo- 
ment when  Charles  and  Francis  already  negotiated  one  of 
their  temporary  reconciliations.  On  this  occasion,  Charles 
formed  the  daring  resolution  of  crossing  the  kingdom  of 
France,  to  promptly  take  into  his  own  hands  the  settlement 
of  this  affair — trusting  to  the  generosity  of  his  scarcely 
reconciled  enemy  not  to  abuse  the  confidence  with  which 
he  risked  himself  in  his  power.  Ghent,  taken  by  surprise, 
did  not  dare  to  oppose  the  entrance  of  the  emperor,  when  he 
appeared  before  the  walls ;  and  the  city  was  punished  with 
extreme  severity.  Twenty-seven  leaders  of  the  sedition  were 
beheaded;  the  principal  privileges  of  the  city  were  with- 
drawn, and  a  citadel  built  to  hold  it  in  check  for  the  future. 
Charles  met  with  neither  opposition  nor  complaint.  The 
province  had  so  prospered  under  his  sway,  and  was  so  flat- 
tered by  the  greatness  of  the  sovereign,  who  was  born  in  the 
town  he  so  severely  punished,  that  his  acts  of  despotic  harsh- 
ness were  borne  without  a  murmur.  But  in  the  north  the 
people  did  not  view  his  measures  so  complacently;  and  a 
wide  separation  in  interests  and  opinions  became  manifest 
in  the  different  divisions  of  the  nation. 

Yet  the  Dutch  and  the  Zealanders  signalized  themselves 
beyond  all  his  other  subjects  on  the  occasion  of  two  expedi- 
tions which  Charles  undertook  against  Tunis  and  Algiers. 
The  two  northern  provinces  furnished  a  greater  number  of 
ships  than  the  united  quotas  of  all  the  rest  of  his  states. 
But  though  Charles's  gratitude  did  not  lead  him  to  do  any- 
thing in  return  as  peculiarly  favorable  to  these  provinces, 
he  obtained  for  them,  nevertheless,  a  great  advantage  in 
making  himself  master  of  Friesland  and  Guelders  on  the 
death  of  Charles  of  Egmont.  His  acquisition  of  the  latter, 
which  took  place  in  1543,  put  an  end  to  the  domestic  wars 


90  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

of  the  northern  provinces.  From  that  period  they  might 
fairly  look  for  a  futurity  of  union  and  peace ;  and  thus  the 
latter  years  of  Charles"  promised  better  for  his  country  than 
his  early  ones,  though  he  obtained  less  success  in  his  new 
wars  with  France,  which  were  not,  however,  signalized  by 
any  grand  event  on  either  side. 

Toward  the  end  of  his  career,  Charles  redoubled  his 
severities  against  the  Protestants,  and  even  introduced  a 
modified  species  of  inquisition  into  the  Netherlands,  but 
with  little  effect  toward  the  suppression  of  the  reformed 
doctrines.  The  misunderstandings  between  his  only  son 
Philip  and  Mary  of  England,  whom  he  had  induced  him 
to  marry,  and  the  unamiable  disposition  of  this  young 
prince,  tormented  him  almost  as  much  as  he  was  humiliated 
by  the  victories  of  Henry  II.  of  France,  the  successor  of 
Francis  I.,  and  the  successful  dissimulation  of  Maurice, 
elector  of  Saxony,  by  whom  he  was  completely  outwitted, 
deceived,  and  defeated.  Impelled  by  these  motives,  and 
others,  perhaps,  which  are  and  must  ever  remain  unknown, 
Charles  at  length  decided  on  abdicating  the  whole  of  his 
immense  possessions.  He  chose  the  city  of  Brussels  as  the 
scene  of  the  solemnity,  and  the  day  fixed  for  it  was  the  25th 
of  October,  1555.  It  took  place  accordingly,  in  the  presence 
of  the  king  of  Bohemia,  the  duke  of  Savoy,  the  dowager 
queens  of  France  and  Hungary,  the  duchess  of  Lorraine, 
and  an  immense  assemblage  of  nobility  from  various  coun- 
tries. Charles  resigned  the  empire  to  his  brother  Ferdinand, 
already  king  of  the  Romans ;  and  all  the  rest  of  his  domin- 
ions to  his  son.  Soon  after  the  ceremony,  Charles  embarked 
from  Zealand  on  his  voyage  to  Spain.  He  retired  to  the 
monastery  of  St.  Justus,  near  the  town  of  Placentia,  in 
Estremadura.  He  entered  this  retreat  in  February,  1556, 
and  died  there  on  the  21st  of  September,  1558,  in  the  fifty- 
ninth  year  of  his  age.  The  last  six  months  of  his  existence, 
contrasted  with  the  daring  vigor  of  his  former  life,  formed 
a  melancholy  picture  of  timidity  and  superstition. 

The  whole  of  the  provinces  of  the  Netherlands  being  now 


TO   THE   ABDICATION   OF   CHARLES   V.  91 

for  the  first  time  united  under  one  sovereign,  such  a  junc- 
tion marks  the  limits  of  a  second  epoch  in  their  history.  It 
would  be  a  presumptuous  and  vain  attempt  to  trace,  in  a 
compass  so  confined  as  ours,  the  various  changes  in  manners 
and  customs  which  arose  in  these  countries  during  a  period 
of  one  thousand  years.  The  extended  and  profound  remarks 
of  many  celebrated  writers  on  the  state  of  Europe  from  the 
decline  of  the  Roman  power  to  the  epoch  at  which  we  are 
now  arrived  must  be  referred  to,  to  judge  of  the  gradual 
progress  of  civilization  through  the  gloom  of  the  dark  ages, 
till  the  dawn  of  enlightenment  which  led  to  the  grand  system 
of  European  politics  commenced  during  the  reign  of  Charles 
V.  The  amazing  increase  of  commerce  was,  above  all  other 
considerations,  the  cause  of  the  growth  of  liberty  in  the 
Netherlands.  The  Reformation  opened  the  minds  of  men 
to  that  intellectual  freedom  without  which  political  enfran- 
chisement is  a  worthless  privilege.  The  invention  of  print- 
ing opened  a  thousand  channels  to  the  flow  of  erudition  and 
talent,  and  sent  them  out  from  the  reservoirs  of  individual 
possession  to  fertilize  the  whole  domain  of  human  nature. 
War,  which  seems  to  be  an  instinct  of  man,  and  which 
particular  instances  of  heroism  often  raise  to  the  dignity  of 
a  passion,  was  reduced  to  a  science,  and  made  subservient 
to  those  great  principles  of  policy  in  which  society  began 
to  perceive  its  only  chance  of  durable  good.  Manufactures 
attained  a  state  of  high  perfection,  and  went  on  progressively 
with  the  growth  of  wealth  and  luxury.  The  opulence  of  the 
towns  of  Brabant  and  Flanders  was  without  any  previous 
example  in  the  state  of  Europe.  A  merchant  of  Bruges 
took  upon  himself  alone  the  security  for  the  ransom  of  John 
the  Fearless,  taken  at  the  battle  of  Nicopolis,  amounting  to 
two  hundred  thousand  ducats.  A  provost  of  Valenciennes 
repaired  to  Paris  at  one  of  the  great  fairs  periodically  held 
there,  and  purchased  on  his  own  account  every  article  that 
was  for  sale.  At  a  repast  given  by  one  of  the  counts  of 
Flanders  to  the  Flemish  magistrates  the  seats  they  occupied 
were  unfurnished  with  cushions.  Those  proud  burghers 


92  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

folded  their  sumptuous  cloaks  and  sat  on  them.  After  the 
feast  they  were  retiring  without  retaining  these  important 
and  costly  articles  of  dress;  and  on  a  courtier  reminding 
them  of  their  apparent  neglect,  the  burgomaster  of  Bruges 
replied,  "We  Flemings  are  not  in  the  habit  of  carrying 
away  the  cushions  after  dinner!"  The  meetings  of  the 
different  towns  for  the  sports  of  archery  were  signalized  by 
the  most  splendid  display  of  dress  and  decoration.  The 
archers  were  habited  in  silk,  damask,  and  the  finest  linen, 
and  carried  chains  of  gold  of  great  weight  and  value.  Lux- 
ury was  at  its  height  among  women.  The  queen  of  Philip 
the  Fair  of  France,  on  a  visit  to  Bruges,  exclaimed,  with  as- 
tonishment not  unmixed  with  envy,  "I  thought  myself  the 
only  queen  here;  but  I  see  six  hundred  others  who  appear 
more  so  than  I." 

The  court  of  Philip  the  Good  seemed  to  carry  magnifi- 
cence and  splendor  to  their  greatest  possible  height.  The 
dresses  of  both  men  and  women  at  this  chivalric  epoch  were 
of  almost  incredible  expense.  Velvet,  satin,  gold,  and  pre- 
cious stones  seemed  the  ordinary  materials  for  the  dress  of 
either  sex;  while  the  very  housings  of  the  horses  sparkled 
with  brilliants  and  cost  immense  sums.  This  absurd  ex- 
travagance was  carried  so  far  that  Charles  V.  found  him- 
self forced  at  length  to  proclaim  sumptuary  laws  for  its  re- 
pression. 

The  style  of  the  banquets  given  on  grand  occasions  was 
regulated  on  a  scale  of  almost  puerile  splendor.  The  Ban- 
quet of  Vows  given  at  Lille,  in  the  year  1453,  and  so  called 
from  the  obligations  entered  into  by  some  of  the  nobles  to 
accompany  Philip  in  a  new  crusade  against  the  infidels, 
showed  a  succession  of  costly  fooleries,  most  amusing  in  the 
detail  given  by  an  eye-witness  (Olivier  de  la  Marche),  the 
minutest  of  the  chroniclers,  but  unluckily  too  long  to  find  a 
place  hi  our  pages. 

Such  excessive  luxury  naturally  led  to  great  corruption 
of  manners  and  the  commission  of  terrible  crimes.  During 
the  reign  of  Philip  de  Male,  there  were  committed  in  the 


TO   THE    ABDICATION   OF   CHARLES   V.  93 

city  of  Ghent  and  its  outskirts,  in  less  than  a  year,  above 
fourteen  hundred  murders  in  gambling-houses  and  other 
resorts  of  debauchery.  As  early  as  the  tenth  century,  the 
petty  sovereigns  established  on  the  ruins  of  the  empire  of 
Charlemagne  began  the  independent  coining  of  money ;  and 
the  various  provinces  were  during  the  rest  of  this  epoch 
inundated  with  a  most  embarrassing  variety  of  gold,  silver, 
and  copper.  Even  in  ages  of  comparative  darkness,  litera- 
ture made  feeble  efforts  to  burst  through  the  entangled 
weeds  of  superstition,  ignorance,  and  war.  In  the  four- 
teenth and  fifteenth  centuries,  history  was  greatly  culti- 
vated ;  and  Froissart,  Monstrelet,  Olivier  de  la  Marche,  and 
Philip  de  Comines,  gave  to  their  chronicles  and  memoirs  a 
charm  of  style  since  their  days  almost  unrivalled.  Poetry 
began  to  be  followed  with  success  in  the  Netherlands,  in  the 
Dutch,  Flemish,  and  French  languages;  and  even  before 
the  institution  of  the  Floral  Games  in  France,  Belgium  pos- 
sessed its  chambers  of  rhetoric  (rederykkamers)  which  la- 
bored to  keep  alive  the  sacred  flame  of  poetry  with  more  zeal 
than  success.  In  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries, 
these  societies  were  established  in  almost  every  burgh  of 
Flanders  and  Brabant;  the  principal  towns  possessing  sev- 
eral at  once. 

The  arts  in  their  several  branches  made  considerable 
progress  in  the  Netherlands  during  this  epoch.  Architect- 
ure was  greatly  cultivated  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
centuries;  most  of  the  cathedrals  and  town  houses  being 
constructed  in  that  age.  Their  vastness,  solidity,  and  beauty 
of  design  and  execution,  make  them  still  speaking  monu- 
ments of  the  stern  magnificence  and  finished  taste  of  the 
times.  The  patronage  of  Philip  the  Good,  Charles  the  Rash, 
and  Margaret  of  Austria,  brought  music  into  fashion,  and 
led  to  its  cultivation  in  a  remarkable  degree.  The  first  mu- 
sicians of  France  were  drawn  from  Flanders ;  and  other  pro- 
fessors from  that  country  acquired  great  celebrity  in  Italy 
for  their  scientific  improvements  in  their  delightful  art. 

Painting,  which  had  languished  before  the  fifteenth  cent- 


94  HISTORY   OF   TIiE    NETHERLANDS 

ury,  sprung  at  once  into  a  new  existence  from  the  invention 
of  John  Van  Eyck,  known  better  by  the  name  of  John  of 
Bruges.  His  accidental  discovery  of  the  art  of  painting  in 
oil  quickly  spread  over  Europe,  and  served  to  perpetuate  to 
all  time  the  records  of  the  genius  which  has  bequeathed  its 
vivid  impressions  to  the  world.  Painting  on  glass,  polish- 
ing diamonds,  the  Carillon,  lace,  and  tapestry,  were  among 
the  inventions  which  owed  their  birth  to  the  Netherlands  in 
these  ages,  when  the  faculties  of  mankind  sought  so  many 
new  channels  for  mechanical  development.  The  discovery 
of  a  new  world  by  Columbus  and  other  eminent  navigators 
gave  a  fresh  and  powerful  impulse  to  European  talent,  by 
affording  an  immense  reservoir  for  its  reward.  The  town 
of  Antwerp  was,  during  the  reign  of  Charles  V.,  the  outlet 
for  the  industry  of  Europe,  and  the  receptacle  for  the  pro- 
ductions of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  Its  port  was  so 
often  crowded  with  vessels  that  each  successive  fleet  was 
obliged  to  wait  long  in  the  Scheldt  before  it  could  obtain 
admission  for  the  discharge  of  its  cargoes.  The  university 
of  Louvain,  that  great  nursery  of  science,  was  founded  in 
1425,  and  served  greatly  to  the  spread  of  knowledge,  al- 
though it  degenerated  into  the  hotbed  of  those  fierce  dis- 
putes which  stamped  on  theology  the  degradation  of  bigotry, 
and  drew  down  odium  on  a  study  that,  if  purely  practiced, 
ought  only  to  inspire  veneration. 

Charles  V.  was  the  first  to  establish  a  solid  plan  of  gov- 
ernment, instead  of  the  constant  fluctuations  in  the  manage- 
ment of  justice,  police,  and  finance.  He  caused  the  edicts 
of  the  various  sovereigns,  and  the  municipal  usages,  to  be 
embodied  into  a  system  of  laws ;  and  thus  gave  stability  and 
method  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  prosperity  in  which  he  left 
his  dominions. 


CHAPTER  VII 

FROM  THE  ACCESSION  OF   PHILIP  II.    OF  SPAIN  TO  THE 

ESTABLISHMENT   OF   THE   INQUISITION 

IN  THE   NETHERLANDS 

A.D.  1555-1566 

IT  has  been  shown  that  the  Netherlands  were  never  in  a 
more  flourishing  state  than  at  the  accession  of  Philip 
II.  The  external  relations  of  the  country  presented  an 
aspect  of  prosperity  and  peace.  England  was  closely  allied 
to  it  by  Queen  Mary's  marriage  with  Philip;  France,  fa- 
tigued with  war,  had  just  concluded  with  it  a  five  years' 
truce;  Germany,  paralyzed  by  religious  dissensions,  ex- 
hausted itself  in  domestic  quarrels;  the  other  states  were 
too  distant  or  too  weak  to  inspire  any  uneasiness ;  and  noth- 
ing appeared  wanting  for  the  public  weal.  Nevertheless 
there  was  something  dangerous  and  alarming  in  the  situa- 
tion of  the  Low  Countries ;  but  the  danger  consisted  wholly 
in  the  connection  between  the  monarch  and  the  people,  and 
the  alarm  was  not  sounded  till  the  mischief  was  beyond 
remedy. 

From  the  time  that  Charles  V.  was  called  to  reign  over 
Spain,  he  may  be  said  to  have  been  virtually  lost  to  the 
country  of  his  birth.  He  was  no  longer  a  mere  duke  of 
Brabant  or  Limberg,  a  count  of  Flanders  or  Holland;  he 
was  also  king  of  Castile,  Aragon,  Leon,  and  Navarre,  of 
Naples,  and  of  Sicily.  These  various  kingdoms  had  inter- 
ests evidently  opposed  to  those  of  the  Low  Countries,  and 
forms  of  government  far  different.  It  was  scarcely  to  be 
doubted  that  the  absolute  monarch  of  so  many  peoples  would 
look  with  a  jealous  eye  on  the  institutions  of  those  provinces 
which  placed  limits  to  his  power;  and  the  natural  cons? 


96  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

quence  was  that  he  who  was  a  legitimate  king  in  the  south 
soon  degenerated  into  a  usurping  master  in  the  north. 

But  during  the  reign  of  Charles  the  danger  was  in  some 
measure  lessened,  or  at  least  concealed  from  public  view,  by 
the  apparent  facility  with  which  he  submitted  to  and  ob- 
served the  laws  and  customs  of  his  native  country.  With 
Philip,  the  case  was  far  different,  and  the  results  too  obvi- 
ous. Uninformed  on  the  Belgian  character,  despising  the 
state  of  manners,  and  ignorant  of  the  language,  no  sympa- 
thy attached  him  to  the  people.  He  brought  with  him  to 
the  throne  all  the  hostile  prejudices  of  a  foreigner,  without 
one  of  the  kindly  or  considerate  feelings  of  a  compatriot. 

Spain,  where  this  young  prince  had  hitherto  passed  his 
life,  was  in  some  degree  excluded  from  European  civiliza- 
tion. A  contest  of  seven  centuries  between  the  Mohammedan 
tribes  and  the  descendants  of  the  Visigoths,  cruel,  like  all 
civil  wars,  and,  like  all  those  of  religion,  not  merely  a  con- 
test of  rulers,  but  essentially  of  the  people,  had  given  to  the 
manners  and  feelings  of  this  unhappy  country  a  deep  stamp 
of  barbarity.  The  ferocity  of  military  chieftains  had  become 
the  basis  of  the  government  and  laws.  The  Christian  kings 
had  adopted  the  perfidious  and  bloody  system  of  the  despotic 
sultans  they  replaced.  Magnificence  and  tyranny,  power 
and  cruelty,  wisdom  and  dissimulation,  respect  and  fear, 
were  inseparably  associated  in  the  minds  of  a  people  so  gov- 
erned. They  comprehended  nothing  in  religion  but  a  God 
armed  with  omnipotence  and  vengeance,  or  in  politics  but  a 
king  as  terrible  as  the  deity  he  represented. 

Philip,  bred  in  this  school  of  slavish  superstition,  taught 
that  he  was  the  despot  for  whom  it  was  formed,  familiar 
with  the  degrading  tactics  of  eastern  tyranny,  was  at  once 
the  most  contemptible  and  unfortunate  of  men.  Isolated 
from  his  kind,  and  wishing  to  appear  superior  to  those  be- 
yond whom  his  station  had  placed  him,  he  was  insensible  to 
the  affections  which  soften  and  ennoble  human  nature.  He 
was  perpetually  filled  with  one  idea — that  of  his  greatness ; 
he  had  but  one  ambition — that  of  command ;  but  one  enjoy- 


TO   ESTABLISHMENT   OF   THE   INQUISITION  97 

merit — that  of  exciting  fear.  Victim  to  this  revolting  self- 
ishness, his  heart  was  never  free  from  care;  and  the  bitter 
melancholy  of  his  character  seemed  to  nourish  a  desire  of 
evil-doing,  which  irritated  suffering  often  produces  in  man. 
Deceit  and  blood  were  his  greatest,  if  not  his  only,  delights. 
The  religious  zeal  which  he  affected,  or  felt,  showed  itself 
but  in  acts  of  cruelty;  and  the  fanatic  bigotry  which  in- 
spired him  formed  the  strongest  contrast  to  the  divine  spirit 
of  Christianity. 

Nature  had  endowed  this  ferocious  being  with  wonderful 
penetration  and  unusual  self-command;  the  first  revealing 
to  him  the  views  of  others,  and  the  latter  giving  him  the 
surest  means  of  counteracting  them,  by  enabling  him  to 
control  himself.  Although  ignorant,  he  had  a  prodigious 
instinct  of  cunning.  He  wanted  courage,  but  its  place  was 
supplied  by  the  harsh  obstinacy  of  wounded  pride.  All  the 
corruptions  of  intrigue  were  familiar  to  him;  yet  he  often 
failed  in  his  most  deep-laid  designs,  at  the  very  moment  of 
their  apparent  success,  by  the  recoil  of  the  bad  faith  and 
treachery  with  which  his  plans  were  overcharged. 

Such  was  the  man  who  now  began  that  terrible  reign 
which  menaced  utter  ruin  to  the  national  prosperity  of  the 
Netherlands.  His  father  had  already  sapped  its  founda- 
tions, by  encouraging  foreign  manners  and  ideas  among 
the  nobility,  and  dazzling  them  with  the  hope  of  the  honors 
and  wealth  which  he  had  at  his  disposal  abroad.  His  severe 
edicts  against  heresy  had  also  begun  to  accustom  the  nation 
to  religious  discords  and  hatred.  Philip  soon  enlarged  on 
what  Charles  had  commenced,  and  he  unmercifully  sacri- 
ficed the  well-being  of  a  people  to  the  worst  objects  of  his 
selfish  ambition. 

Philip  had  only  once  visited  the  Netherlands  before  his  ac- 
cession to  sovereign  power.  Being  at  that  time  twenty-two 
years  of  age,  his  opinions  were  formed  and  his  prejudices 
deeply  rooted.  Everything  that  he  observed  on  this  visit 
was  calculated  to  revolt  both.  The  frank  cordiality  of  the 

people  appeared   too   familiar.     The  expression  of  popular 

Holland. — 5 


98  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

rights  sounded  like  the  voice  of  rebellion.  Even  the  mag- 
nificence displayed  in  his  honor  offended  his  jealous  vanity. 
From  that  moment  he  seems  to  have  conceived  an  implaca- 
ble aversion  to  the  country,  in  which  alone,  of  all  his  vast 
possessions,  he  could  not  display  the  power  or  inspire  the 
terror  of  despotism. 

The  sovereign's  dislike  was  fully  equalled  by  the  disgust 
of  his  subjects.  His  haughty  severity  and  vexatious  eti- 
quette revolted  their  pride  as  well  as  their  plain  dealing; 
and  the  moral  qualities  of  their  new  sovereign  were  consid- 
ered with  loathing.  The  commercial  and  political  connection 
between  the  Netherlands  and  Spain  had  given  the  two  peo- 
ple ample  opportunities  for  mutual  acquaintance.  The  dark, 
vindictive  dispositions  of  the  latter  inspired  a  deep  antipathy 
in  those  whom  civilization  had  softened  and  liberty  rendered 
frank  and  generous ;  and  the  new  sovereign  seemed  to  em- 
body all  that  was  repulsive  and  odious  in  the  nation  of 
which  he  was  the  type.  Yet  Philip  did  not  at  first  act  in 
a  way  to  make  himself  more  particularly  hated.  He  rather, 
by  an  apparent  consideration  for  a  few  points  of  political  in- 
terest and  individual  privilege,  and  particularly  by  the  revo- 
cation of  some  of  the  edicts  against  heretics,  removed  the 
suspicions  his  earlier  conduct  had  excited ;  and  his  intended 
victims  did  not  perceive  that  the  despot  sought  to  lull  them 
to  sleep,  in  the  hopes  of  making  them  an  easier  prey. 

Philip  knew  well  that  force  alone  was  insufficient  to  re- 
duce such  a  people  to  slavery.  He  succeeded  in  persuading 
the  states  to  grant  him  considerable  subsidies,  some  of  which 
were  to  be  paid  by  instalments  during  a  period  of  nine  years. 
That  was  gaining  a  great  step  toward  his  designs,  as  it  su- 
perseded the  necessity  of  a  yearly  application  to  the  three 
orders,  the  guardians  of  the  public  liberty.  At  the  same 
time  he  sent  secret  agents  to  Rome,  to  obtain  the  approba- 
tion of  the  pope  to  his  insidious  but  most  effective  plan  for 
placing  the  whole  of  the  clergy  in  dependence  upon  the 
crown.  He  also  kept  up  the  army  of  Spaniards  and  Ger- 
mans which  his  father  had  formed  on  the  frontiers  of 


TO    ESTABLISHMENT   OF   THE    INQUISITION  99 

France;  and  although  he  did  not  remove  from  their  em- 
ployments the  functionaries  already  in  place,  he  took  care 
to  make  no  new  appointments  to  office  among  the  natives 
of  the  Netherlands. 

In  the  midst  of  these  cunning  preparations  for  tyranny, 
Philip  was  suddenly  attacked  in  two  quarters  at  once;  by 
Henry  II.  of  France,  and  by  Pope  Paul  IV.  A  prince  less 
obstinate  than  Philip  would  in  such  circumstances  have  re- 
nounced, or  at  least  postponed,  his  designs  against  the  lib- 
erties of  so  important  a  part  of  his  dominions,  as  those  to 
which  he  was  obliged  to  have  recourse  for  aid  in  support  of 
this  double  war.  But  he  seemed  to  make  every  foreign  con- 
sideration subservient  to  the  object  of  domestic  aggression 
which  he  had  so  much  at  heart. 

He,  however,  promptly  met  the  threatened  dangers  from 
abroad.  He  turned  his  first  attention  toward  his  contest 
with  the  pope;  and  he  extricated  himself  from  it  with  an 
adroitness  that  proved  the  whole  force  and  cunning  of  his 
character.  Having  first  publicly  obtained  the  opinion  of 
several  doctors  of  theology,  that  he  was  justified  in  taking 
arms  against  the  pontiff  (a  point  on  which  there  was  really 
no  doubt),  he  prosecuted  the  war  with  the  utmost  vigor,  by 
the  means  of  the  afterward  notorious  duke  of  Alva,  at  that 
time  viceroy  of  his  Italian  dominions.  Paul  soon  yielded  to 
superior  skill  and  force,  and  demanded  terms  of  peace,  which 
were  granted  with  a  readiness  and  seeming  liberality  that 
astonished  no  one  more  than  the  defeated  pontiff.  But 
Philip's  moderation  to  his  enemy  was  far  outdone  by  his 
perfidy  to  his  allies.  He  confirmed  Alva's  consent  to  the 
confiscation  of  the  domains  of  the  noble  Romans  who  had 
espoused  his  cause ;  and  thus  gained  a  stanch  and  powerful 
supporter  to  all  his  future  projects  in  the  religious  authority 
of  the  successor  of  St.  Peter. 

His  conduct  in  the  conclusion  of  the  war  with  France 
was  not  less  base.  His  army,  under  the  command  of  Phili- 
bert  Emmanuel,  duke  of  Savoy,  consisting  of  Belgians,  Ger- 
mans, and  Spaniards,  with  a  considerable  body  of  English, 


100  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

sent  by  Mary  to  the  assistance  of  her  husband,  penetrated 
into  Picardy,  and  gained  a  complete  victory  over  the  French 
forces.  The  honor  of  this  brilliant  affair,  which  took  place 
near  St.  Quintin,  was  almost  wholly  due  to  the  count 
d'Egmont,  a  Belgian  noble,  who  commanded  the  light  cav- 
alry; but  the  king,  unwilling  to  let  any  one  man  enjoy  the 
glory  of  the  day,  piously  pretended  that  he  owed  the  entire 
obligation  to  St.  Lawrence,  on  whose  festival  the  battle  was 
fought.  His  gratitude  or  hypocrisy  found  a  fitting  monu- 
ment in  the  celebrated  convent  and  palace  of  the  Escurial, 
which  he  absurdly  caused  to  be  built  in  the  form  of  a  grid- 
iron, the  instrument  of  the  saint's  martyrdom.  When  the 
news  of  the  victory  reached  Charles  V.  in  his  retreat,  the 
old  warrior  inquired  if  Philip  was  in  Paris?  but  the  cau- 
tious victor  had  no  notion  of  such  prompt  manoeuvring; 
nor  would  he  risk  against  foreign  enemies  the  exhaustion 
of  forces  destined  for  the  enslavement  of  his  people. 

The  French  in  some  measure  retrieved  their  late  dis- 
grace by  the  capture  of  Calais,  the  only  town  remaining  to 
England  of  all  its  French  conquests,  and  which,  conse- 
quently, had  deeply  interested  the  national  glory  of  each 
people.  In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1558,  one  of  the  gen- 
erals of  Henry  II.  made  an  irruption  into  western  Flan- 
ders; but  the  gallant  count  of  Egmont  once  more  proved 
his  valor  and  skill  by  attacking  and  totally  defeating  the 
invaders  near  the  town  of  Gravelines. 

A  general  peace  was  concluded  in  April,  1559,  which 
bore  the  name  of  Cateau-Cambresis,  from  that  of  the  place 
where  it  was  negotiated.  Philip  secured  for  himself  vari- 
ous advantages  in  the  treaty;  but  he  sacrificed  the  inter- 
ests of  England,  by  consenting  to  the  retention  of  Calais 
by  the  French  king — a  cession  deeply  humiliating  to  the 
national  pride  of  his  allies ;  and,  if  general  opinion  be  cor- 
rect, a  proximate  cause  of  his  consort's  death.  The  alli- 
ance of  France  and  the  support  of  Rome,  the  important 
results  of  the  two  wars  now  brought  to  a  close,  were  coun- 
terbalanced by  the  well-known  hostility  of  Elizabeth,  who 


TO    ESTABLISHMENT    OF    THE    INQUISITION  101 

had  succeeded  to  the  throne  of  England;  and  this  latter 
consideration  was  an  additional  motive  with  Philip  to  push 
forward  the  design  of  consolidating  his  despotism  in  the 
Low  Countries. 

To  lead  his  already  deceived  subjects  the  more  surely 
into  the  snare,  he  announced  his  intended  departure  on  a 
short  visit  to  Spain ;  and  created  for  the  period  of  his  ab- 
sence a  provisional  government,  chiefly  composed  of  the 
leading  men  among  the  Belgian  nobility.  He  flattered 
himself  that  the  states,  dazzled  by  the  illustrious  illusion 
thus  prepared,  would  cheerfully  grant  to  this  provisional 
government  the  right  of  levying  taxes  during  the  tempo- 
rary absence  of  the  sovereign.  He  also  reckoned  on  the 
influence  of  the  clergy  in  the  national  assembly,  to  procure 
the  revival  of  the  edicts  against  heresy,  which  be  had  gained 
the  merit  of  suspending.  These,  with  many  minor  details 
of  profound  duplicity,  formed  the  principal  features  of  a 
plan,  which,  if  successful,  would  have  reduced  the  Nether- 
lands to  the  wretched  state  of  colonial  dependence  by  which 
Naples  and  Sicily  were  held  in  the  tenure  of  Spain. 

As  soon  as  the  states  had  consented  to  place  the  whole 
powers  of  government  in  the  hands  of  the  new  administra- 
tion for  the  period  of  the  king's  absence,  the  royal  hypocrite 
believed  his  scheme  secure,  and  flattered  himself  he  had  es- 
tablished an  instrument  of  durable  despotism.  The  compo- 
sition of  this  new  government  was  a  masterpiece  of  political 
machinery.  It  consisted  of  several  councils,  in  which  the 
most  distinguished  citizens  were  entitled  to  a  place,  in  suffi- 
cient numbers  to  deceive  the  people  with  a  show  of  repre- 
sentation, but  not  enough  to  command  a  majority,  which 
was  sure  on  any  important  question  to  rest  with  the  titled 
creatures  of  the  court.  The  edicts  against  heresy,  soon 
adopted,  gave  to  the  clergy  an  almost  unlimited  power 
over  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  the  people.  But  almost  all 
the  dignitaries  of  the  church  being  men  of  great  respect- 
ability and  moderation,  chosen  by  the  body  of  the  inferior 
clergy,  these  extraordinary  powers  excited  little  alarm. 


102  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

Philip's  project  was  suddenly  to  replace  these  virtuous 
ecclesiastics  by  others  of  his  own  choice,  as  soon  as  the 
states  broke  up  from  their  annual  meeting;  and  for  this 
intention  he  had  procured  the  secret  consent  and  authority 
of  the  court  of  Rome. 

In  support  of  these  combinations,  the  Belgian  troops 
were  completely  broken  up  and  scattered  in  small  bodies 
over  the  country.  The  whole  of  this  force,  so  redoubtable 
to  the  fears  of  despotism,  consisted  of  only  three  thousand 
cavalry.  It  was  now  divided  into  fourteen  companies  (or 
squadrons  in  the  modern  phraseology),  under  the  command 
of  as  many  independent  chiefs,  so  as  to  leave  little  chance 
of  any  principle  of  union  reigning  among  them.  But  the 
German  and  Spanish  troops  in  Philip's  pay  were  cantoned 
on  the  frontiers,  ready  to  stifle  any  incipient  effort  in  oppo- 
sition to  his  plans.  In  addition  to  these  imposing  means 
for  their  execution,  he  had  secured  a  still  more  secret  and 
more  powerful  support:  a  secret  article  in  the  treaty  of 
Cateau-Cambresis  obliged  the  king  of  France  to  assist  him 
with  the  whole  armies  of  France  against  his  Belgian  sub- 
jects, should  they  prove  refractory.  Thus  the  late  war,  of 
which  the  Netherlands  had  borne  all  the  weight,  and  earned 
all  the  glory,  only  brought  about  .the  junction  of  the  de- 
feated enemy  with  their  own  king  for  the  extinction  of  their 
national  independence. 

To  complete  the  execution  of  this  system  of  perfidy, 
Philip  convened  an  assembly  of  all  the  states  at  Ghent, 
in  the  month  of  July,  1559.  This  meeting  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  three  orders  of  the  state  offered  no  appar- 
ent obstacle  to  Philip's  views.  The  clergy,  alarmed  at  the 
progress  of  the  new  doctrines,  gathered  more  closely  round 
the  government  of  which  they  required  the  support.  The 
nobles  had  lost  much  of  their  ancient  attachment  to  liberty ; 
and  had  become,  in  various  ways,  dependent  on  the  royal 
favor.  Many  of  the  first  families  were  then  represented  by 
men  possessed  rather  of  courage  and  candor  than  of  fore- 
sight and  sagacity.  That  of  Nassau,  the  most  distinguished 


TO    ESTABLISHMENT    OF    THE    INQUISITION  103 

of  all,  seemed  the  least  interested  in  the  national  cause.  A 
great  part  of  its  possessions  were  in  Germany  and  France, 
where  it  had  recently  acquired  the  sovereign  principality  of 
Orange.  It  was  only  from  the  third  order — that  of  the 
commons — that  Philip  had  to  expect  any  opposition.  Al- 
ready, during  the  war,  it  had  shown  some  discontent,  and 
had  insisted  on  the  nomination  of  commissioners  to  control 
the  accounts  and  the  disbursements  of  the  subsidies.  But 
it  seemed  improbable  that  among  this  class  of  men  any 
would  be  found  capable  of  penetrating  the  manifold  com- 
binations of  the  king,  and  disconcerting  his  designs. 

Anthony  Perrenotte  de  Granvelle,  bishop  of  Arras,  who 
was  considered  as  Philip's  favorite  counsellor,  but  who  was 
in  reality  no  more  than  his  docile  agent,  was  commissioned 
to  address  the  assembly  in  the  name  of  his  master,  who 
spoke  only  Spanish.  His  oration  was  one  of  cautious  de- 
ception, and  contained  the  most  flattering  assurances  of 
Philip's  attachment  to  the  people  of  the  Netherlands.  It 
excused  the  king  for  not  having  nominated  his  only  son, 
Don  Carlos,  to  reign  over  them  in  his  name;  alleging,  as 
a  proof  of  his  royal  affection,  that  he  preferred  giving  them 
as  stadtholderess  a  Belgian  princess,  Madame  Marguerite, 
duchess  of  Parma,  the  natural  daughter  of  Charles  V.  by 
a  young  lady,  a  native  of  Audenarde.  Fair  promises  and 
fine  words  were  thus  lavished  in  profusion  to  gain  the  con- 
fidence of  the  deputies. 

But  notwithstanding  all  the  talent,  the  caution,  and  the 
mystery  of  Philip  and  his  minister,  there  was  among  the 
nobles  one  man  who  saw  through  all.  This  individual,  en- 
dowed with  many  of  the  highest  attributes  of  political 
genius,  and  pre-eminently  with  judgment,  the  most  im- 
portant of  all,  entered  fearlessly  into  the  contest  against 
tyranny — despising  every  personal  sacrifice  for  the  coun- 
try's good.  "Without  making  himself  suspiciously  promi- 
nent, he  privately  warned  some  members  of  the  states  of 
the  coming  danger.  Those  in  whom  he  confided  did  not 
betray  the  trust.  They  spread  among  the  other  deputies 


104  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

the  alarm,  and  pointed  out  the  danger  to  which  they  had 
been  so  judiciously  awakened.  The  consequence  was  a  re- 
ply to  Philip's  demand,  in  vague  and  general  terms,  with- 
out binding  the  nation  by  any  pledge;  and  a  unanimous 
entreaty  that  he  would  diminish  the  taxes,  withdraw  the 
foreign  troops,  and  intrust  no  official  employments  to  any 
but  natives  of  the  country.  The  object  of  this  last  request 
was  the  removal  of  Granvelle,  who  was  born  in  Franche- 
Comte. 

Philip  was  utterly  astounded  at  all  this.  In  the  first 
moment  of  his  vexation  he  imprudently  cried  out,  "Would 
ye,  then,  also  bereave  me  of  my  place ;  I,  who  am  a  Span- 
iard?" But  he  soon  recovered  his  self-command,  and  re- 
sumed his  usual  mask ;  expressed  his  regret  at  not  having 
sooner  learned  the  wishes  of  the  states ;  promised  to  remove 
the  foreign  troops  within  three  months ;  and  set  off  for  Zea- 
land, with  assumed  composure,  but  filled  with  the  fury  of  a 
discovered  traitor  and  a  humiliated  despot. 

A  fleet  under  the  command  of  Count  Horn,  the  admiral 
of  the  United  Provinces,  waited  at  Flessingue  to  form  his 
escort  to  Spain.  At  the  very  moment  of  his  departure, 
William  of  Nassau,  prince  of  Orange  and  governor  of  Zea- 
land, waited  on  him  to  pay  his  official  respects.  The  king, 
taking  him  apart  from  the  other  attendant  nobles,  recom- 
mended him  to  hasten  the  execution  of  several  gentlemen 
and  wealthy  citizens  attached  to  the  newly  introduced  re- 
ligious opinions.  Then,  quite  suddenly,  whether  in  the 
random  impulse  of  suppressed  rage,  or  that  his  piercing 
glance  discovered  William's  secret  feelings  in  his  counte- 
nance, he  accused  him  with  having  been  the  means  of 
thwarting  his  designs.  "Sire,"  replied  Nassau,  "it  was 
the  work  of  the  national  states." — "No!"  cried  Philip, 
.grasping  him  furiously  by  the  arm;  "it  was  not  done  by 
the  states,  but  by  you,  and  you  alone!" — Schiller.  The 
words  of  Philip  were:  "iVb,  no  los  estados;  ma  vos,  vos, 
vos/"  Vos  thus  used  in  Spanish  is  a  term  of  contempt, 
equivalent  to  toi  in  French. 


TO    ESTABLISHMENT    OF   THE    INQUISITION  105 

This  glorious  accusation  was  not  repelled.  He  who  had 
saved  his  country  in  unmasking  the  designs  of  its  tyrant 
admitted  by  his  silence  his  title  to  the  hatred  of  the  one  and 
the  gratitude  of  the  other.  On  the  20th  of  August,  Philip 
embarked  and  set  sail;  turning  his  back  forever  on  the 
country  which  offered  the  first  check  to  his  despotism; 
and,  after  a  perilous  voyage,  he  arrived  in  that  which  per- 
mitted a  free  indulgence  to  his  ferocious  and  sanguinary 
career. 

For  some  time  after  Philip's  departure,  the  Netherlands 
continued  to  enjoy  considerable  prosperity.  From  the  period 
of  the  Peace  of  Cateau-Cambresis,  commerce  and  naviga- 
tion had  acquired  new  and  increasing  activity.  The  fish- 
eries, but  particularly  that  of  herrings,  became  daily  more 
important;  that  one  alone  occupying  two  thousand  boats. 
While  Holland,  Zealand  and  Friesland  made  this  progress 
in  their  peculiar  branches  of  industry,  the  southern  prov- 
inces were  not  less  active  or  successful.  Spain  and  the 
colonies  offered  such  a  mart  for  the  objects  of  their  manu- 
facture that  in  a  single  year  they  received  from  Flanders 
fifty  large  ships  filled  with  articles  of  household  furniture 
and  utensils.  The  exportation  of  woollen  goods  amounted 
to  enormous  sums.  Bruges  alone  sold  annually  to  the 
amount  of  four  million  florins  of  stuffs  of  Spanish,  and 
as  much  of  English,  wool ;  and  the  least  value  of  the  florin 
then  was  quadruple  its  present  worth.  The  commerce  with 
England,  though  less  important  than  that  with  Spain,  was 
calculated  yearly  at  twenty-four  million  florins,  which  was 
chiefly  clear  profit  to  the  Netherlands,  as  their  exportations 
consisted  almost  entirely  of  objects  of  their  own  manufact- 
ure. Their  commercial  relations  with  France,  Germany, 
Italy,  Portugal,  and  the  Levant,  were  daily  increasing. 
Antwerp  was  the  centre  of  this  prodigious  trade.  Several 
sovereigns,  among  others  Elizabeth  of  England,  had  recog- 
nized agents  in  that  city,  equivalent  to  consuls  of  the  pres- 
ent times ;  and  loans  of  immense  amount  were  frequently 
negotiated  by  them  with  wealthy  merchants,  who  furnished 


106  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

them,  not  in  negotiable  bills  or  for  unredeemable  debentures, 
but  in  solid  gold,  and  on  a  simple  acknowledgment. 

Flanders  and  Brabant  were  still  the  richest  and  most 
flourishing  portions  of  the  state.  Some  municipal  fetes 
given  about  this  time  afford  a  notion  of  their  opulence. 
On  one  of  these  occasions  the  town  of  Mechlin  sent  a 
deputation  to  Antwerp,  consisting  of  three  hundred  and 
twenty-six  horsemen  dressed  in  velvet  and  satin  with 
gold  and  silver  ornaments;  while  those  of  Brussels  con- 
sisted of  three  hundred  and  forty,  as  splendidly  equipped, 
and  accompanied  by  seven  huge  triumphal  chariots  and 
seventy-eight  carriages  of  various  constructions — a  pro- 
digious number  for  those  days. 

But  the  splendor  and  prosperity  which  thus  sprung  out 
of  the  national  industry  and  independence,  and  which  a  wise 
or  a  generous  sovereign  would  have  promoted,  or  at  least 
have  established  on  a  permanent  basis,  was  destined  speedily 
to  sink  beneath  the  bigoted  fury  of  Philip  II.  The  new 
government  which  he  had  established  was  most  ingeniously 
adapted  to  produce  every  imaginable  evil  to  the  state.  The 
king,  hundreds  of  leagues  distant,  could  not  himself  issue 
an  order  but  with  a  lapse  of  time  ruinous  to  any  object 
of  pressing  importance.  The  stadtholderess,  who  repre- 
sented him,  having  but  a  nominal  authority,  was  forced 
to  follow  her  instructions,  and  liable  to  have  all  her  acts 
reversed;  besides  which,  she  had  the  king's  orders  to  con- 
sult her  private  council  on  all  affairs  whatever,  and  the 
council  of  state  on  any  matter  of  paramount  importance. 
These  two  councils,  however,  contained  the  elements  of  a 
serious  opposition  to  the  royal  projects,  in  the  persons  of  the 
patriot  nobles  sprinkled  among  Philip's  devoted  creatures. 
Thus  the  influence  of  the  crown  was  often  thwarted,  if  not 
actually  balanced;  and  the  proposals  which  emanated  from 
it  frequently  opposed  by  the  stadtholderess  herself.  She, 
although  a  woman  of  masculine  appearance  and  habits,1  was 

1  Strada. 


TO    ESTABLISHMENT    OF   THE    INQUISITION  107 

possessed  of  no  strength  of  mind.  Her  prevailing  sentiment 
seemed  to  be  dread  of  the  king ;  yet  she  was  at  times  influ- 
enced by  a  sense  of  justice,  and  by  the  remonstrances  of  the 
well-judging  members  of  her  councils.  But  these  were  not 
all  the  difficulties  that  clogged  the  machinery  of  the  state. 
After  the  king,  the  government,  and  the  councils,  had  de- 
liberated on  any  measure,  its  execution  rested  with  the  pro- 
vincial governors  or  stadtholders,  or  the  magistrates  of  the 
towns.  Almost  every  one  of  these,  being  strongly  attached 
to  the  laws  and  customs  of  the  nation,  hesitated,  or  refused 
to  obey  the  orders  conveyed  to  them,  when  those  orders 
appeared  illegal.  Some,  however,  yielded  to  the  authority 
of  the  government ;  so  it  often  happened  that  an  edict,  which 
in  one  district  was  carried  into  full  effect,  was  in  others 
deferred,  rejected,  or  violated,  in  a  way  productive  of  great 
confusion  in  the  public  affairs. 

Philip  was  conscious  that  he  had  himself  to  blame  for  the 
consequent  disorder.  In  nominating  the  members  of  the 
two  councils,  he  had  overreached  himself  in  his  plan  for 
silently  sapping  the  liberty  that  was  so  obnoxious  to  his 
designs.  But  to  neutralize  the  influence  of  the  restive  mem- 
bers, he  had  left  Granvelle  the  first  place  in  the  administra- 
tion. This  man,  an  immoral  ecclesiastic,  an  eloquent  orator, 
a  supple  courtier,  and  a  profound  politician,  bloated  with 
pride,  envy,  insolence,  and  vanity,  was  the  real  head  of  the 
government.1  Next  to  him  among  the  royalist  party  was 
Viglius,  president  of  the  privy  council,  an  erudite  school- 
man, attached  less  to  the  broad  principles  of  justice  than 
to  the  letter  of  the  laws,  and  thus  carrying  pedantry  into 
the  very  councils  of  the  state.  Next  in  order  came  the  count 
de  Berlaimont,  head  of  the  financial  department — a  stern 
and  intolerant  satellite  of  the  court,  and  a  furious  enemy 
to  those  national  institutions  which  operated  as  checks  upon 


1  Strada,  a  royalist,  a  Jesuit,  and  therefore  a  fair  witness  on  this  point, 
usea  the  following  words  in  portraying  the  character  of  this  odious  minister: 
Animum  avidum  invidumque,  ac  svmuttates  inter  principsm  et  populos  occulti 
fovwitwn. 


108  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

fraud.  These  three  individuals  formed  the  stadtholderess's 
privy  council.  The  remaining  creatures  of  the  king  were 
mere  subaltern  agents. 

A  government  so  composed  could  scarcely  fail  to  excite 
discontent  and  create  danger  to  the  public  weal.  The  first 
proof  of  incapacity  was  elicited  by  the  measures  required  for 
the  departure  of  the  Spanish  troops.  The  period  fixed  by 
the  king  had  already  expired,  and  these  obnoxious  foreigners 
were  still  in  the  country,  living  in  part  on  pillage,  and  each 
day  committing  some  new  excess.  Complaints  were  carried 
in  successive  gradation  from  the  government  to  the  council, 
and  from  the  council  to  the  king.  The  Spaniards  were 
removed  to  Zealand ;  but  instead  of  being  embarked  at  any 
of  its  ports,  they  were  detained  there  on  various  pretexts. 
Money,  ships,  or,  on  necessity,  a  wind,  was  professed  to  be 
still  wanting  for  their  final  removal,  by  those  who  found 
excuses  for  delay  in  every  element  of  nature  or  subterfuge 
of  art.  In  the  meantime  those  ferocious  soldiers  ravaged 
a  part  of  the  country.  The  simple  natives  at  length  de- 
clared they  would  open  the  sluices  of  then*  dikes ;  preferring 
to  be  swallowed  by  the  waters  rather  than  remain  exposed 
to  the  cruelty  and  rapacity  of  those  Spaniards.  Still  the 
embarkation  was  postponed;  until  the  king,  requiring  his 
troops  in  Spam  for  some  domestic  project,  they  took  their 
long-desired  departure  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1561. 

The  public  discontent  at  this  just  cause  was  soon,  how- 
ever, overwhelmed  by  one  infinitely  more  important  and  last- 
ing. The  Belgian  clergy  had  hitherto  formed  a  free  and 
powerful  order  in  the  state,  governed  and  represented  by 
four  bishops,  chosen  by  the  chapters  of  the  towns  or  elected 
by  the  monks  of  the  principal  abbeys.  These  bishops,  pos- 
sessing an  independent  territorial  revenue,  and  not  directly 
subject  to  the  influence  of  the  crown,  had  interests  and  feel- 
ings in  common  with  the  nation.  But  Philip  had  prepared, 
and  the  pope  had  sanctioned,  the  new  system  of  ecclesias- 
tical organization  before  alluded  to,  and  the  provisional 
government  now  put  it  into  execution.  Instead  of  four 


TO   ESTABLISHMENT   OF   THE    INQUISITION  109 

bishops,  it  was  intended  to  appoint  eighteen,  their  nomina- 
tion being  vested  in  the  king.  By  a  wily  system  of  trickery, 
the  subserviency  of  the  abbeys  was  also  aimed  at.  The 
new  prelates,  on  a  pretended  principle  of  economy,  were 
endowed  with  the  title  of  abbots  of  the  chief  monasteries  of 
their  respective  dioceses.  Thus  not  only  would  they  enjoy 
the  immense  wealth  of  these  establishments,  but  the  political 
rights  of  the  abbots  whom  they  were  to  succeed;  and  the 
whole  of  the  ecclesiastical  order  become  gradually  repre- 
sented (after  the  death  of  the  then  living  abbots)  by  the 
creatures  of  the  crown. 

The  consequences  of  this  vital  blow  to  the  integrity  of 
the  national  institutions  were  evident ;  and  the  indignation 
of  both  clergy  and  laity  was  universal.  Every  legal  means 
of  opposition  was  resorted  to,  but  the  people  were  without 
leaders ;  the  states  were  not  in  session.  While  the  authority 
of  the  pope  and  the  king  combined,  the  reverence  excited  by 
the  very  name  of  religion,  and  the  address  and  perseverance 
of  the  government,  formed  too  powerful  a  combination,  and 
triumphed  over  the  national  discontents  which  had  not  yet 
been  formed  into  resistance.  The  new  bishops  were  ap- 
pointed; Granvelle  securing  for  himself  the  archiepiscopal 
see  of  Mechlin,  with  the  title  of  primate  of  the  Low  Coun- 
tries. At  the  same  time  Paul  IV.  put  the  crowning  point 
to  the  capital  of  his  ambition,  by  presenting  him  with  a 
cardinal's  hat. 

The  new  bishops  were  to  a  man  most  violent,  intolerant, 
and  it  may  be  conscientious,  opponents  to  the  wide-spreading 
doctrines  of  reform.  The  execution  of  the  edicts  against 
heresy  was  confided  to  them.  The  provincial  governors  and 
inferior  magistrates  were  commanded  to  aid  them  with  a 
strong  arm ;  and  the  most  unjust  and  frightful  persecution 
immediately  commenced.  But  still  some  of  these  governors 
and  magistrates,  considering  themselves  not  only  the  officers 
of  the  prince,  but  the  protectors  of  the  people,  and  the  de- 
fenders of  the  laws  rather  than  of  the  faith,  did  not  blindly 
conform  to  those  harsh  and  illegal  commands.  The  Prince 


110  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

of  Orange,  stadtholder  of  Holland,  Zealand,  and  Utrecht, 
and  the  count  of  Egmont,  governor  of  Flanders  and  Artois, 
permitted  no  persecutions  in  those  five  provinces.  But  in 
various  places  the  very  people,  even  when  influenced  by 
their  superiors,  openly  opposed  it.  Catholics  as  well  as 
Protestants  were  indignant  at  the  atrocious  spectacles  of 
cruelty  presented  on  all  sides.  The  public  peace  was  endan- 
gered by  isolated  acts  of  resistance,  and  fears  of  a  general 
insurrection  soon  became  universal. 

The  apparent  temporizing  or  seeming  uncertainty  of  the 
champions  of  the  new  doctrines  formed  the  great  obstacle 
to  the  reformation,  and  tended  to  prolong  the  dreadful  strug- 
gle which  was  now  only  commencing  hi  the  Low  Countries. 
It  was  a  matter  of  great  difficulty  to  convince  the  people 
that  popery  was  absurd,  and  at  the  same  time  to  set  limits 
to  the  absurdity.  Had  the  change  been  from  blind  belief 
to  total  infidelity,  it  would  (as  in  a  modern  instance)  have 
been  much  easier,  though  less  lasting.  Men  might,  in  a 
time  of  such  excitement,  have  been  persuaded  that  all  relig- 
ion productive  of  abuses  such  as  then  abounded  was  a  farce, 
and  that  common  sense  called  for  its  abolition.  But  when 
the  boundaries  of  belief  became  a  question ;  when  the  world 
was  told  it  ought  to  reject  some  doctrines,  and  retain  others 
which  seemed  as  difficult  of  comprehension;  when  one  tenet 
was  pronounced  idolatry,  and  to  doubt  another  declared 
damnation — the  world  either  exploded  or  recoiled:  it  went 
too  far  or  it  shrank  back;  plunged  into  atheism,  or  relapsed 
into  popery.  It  was  thus  the  reformation  was  checked  in 
the  first  instance.  Its  supporters  were  the  strong-minded 
and  intelligent;  and  they  never,  and  least  of  all  hi  those 
days,  formed  the  mass.  Superstition  and  bigotry  had  ener- 
vated the  intellects  of  the  majority;  and  the  high  resolve 
of  those  with  whom  the  great  work  commenced  was  mixed 
with  a  severity  that  materially  retarded  its  progress.  For 
though  personal  interests,  as  with  Henry  VIII.  of  England, 
and  rigid  enthusiasm,  as  with  Calvin,  strengthened  the  in- 
fant reformation;  the  first  led  to  violence  which  irritated 


TO    ESTABLISHMENT    OF    THE    INQUISITION  111 

many,  the  second  to  austerity  which  disgusted  them;  and 
it  was  soon  discovered  that  the  change  was  almost  confined 
to  forms  of  practice,  and  that  the  essentials  of  abuse  were 
likely  to  be  carefully  preserved.  All  these,  and  other  argu- 
ments, artfully  modified  to  distract  the  people,  were  urged 
by  the  new  bishops  in  the  Netherlands,  and  by  those  whom 
they  employed  to  arrest  the  progress  of  reform. 

Among  the  various  causes  of  the  general  confusion,  the 
situation  of  Brabant  gave  to  that  province  a  peculiar  share 
of  suffering.  Brussels,  its  capital,  being  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment, had  no  particular  chief  magistrate,  like  the  other  prov- 
inces. The  executive  power  was  therefore  wholly  confided 
to  the  municipal  authorities  and  the  territorial  proprietors. 
But  these,  though  generally  patriotic  in  their  views,  were 
divided  into  a  multiplicity  of  different  opinions.  Rivalry 
and  resentment  produced  a  total  want  of  union,  ended  in 
anarchy,  and  prepared  the  way  for  civil  war.  William 
of  Nassau  penetrated  the  cause,  and  proposed  the  remedy 
in  moving  for  the  appointment  of  a  provincial  governor. 
This  proposition  terrified  Granvelle,  who  saw,  as  clearly  as 
did  his  sagacious  opponent  in  the  council,  that  the  nomina- 
tion of  a  special  protector  between  the  people  and  the  gov- 
ernment would  have  paralyzed  all  his  efforts  for  hurrying 
on  the  discord  and  resistance  which  were  meant  to  be  the 
plausible  excuses  for  the  introduction  of  arbitrary  power. 
He  therefore  energetically  dissented  from  the  proposed 
measure,  and  William  immediately  desisted  from  his  de- 
mand. But  he  at  the  same  time  claimed,  in  the  name  of 
the  whole  country,  the  convocation  of  the  states-general. 
This  assembly  alone  was  competent  to  decide  what  was  just, 
legal,  and  obligatory  for  each  province  and  every  town. 
Governors,  magistrates,  and  simple  citizens,  would  thus 
have  some  rule  for  their  common  conduct ;  and  the  govern- 
ment would  be  at  least  endowed  with  the  dignity  of  uni- 
formity and  steadiness.  The  ministers  endeavored  to  evade 
a  demand  which  they  were  at  first  unwilling  openly  to  re- 
fuse. But  the  firm  demeanor  and  persuasive  eloquence 


112  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

of  the  Prince  of  Orange  carried  before  them  all  who  were 
not  actually  bought  by  the  crown;  and  Granvelle  found 
himself  at  length  forced  to  avow  that  an  express  order  from 
the  king  forbade  the  convocation  of  the  states,  on  any  pre- 
text, during  his  absence. 

The  veil  was  thus  rent  asunder  which  had  in  some  meas- 
ure concealed  the  deformity  of  Philip's  despotism.  The 
result  was  a  powerful  confederacy,  among  all  who  held  it 
odious,  for  the  overthrow  of  Granvelle,  to  whom  they  chose 
to  attribute  the  king's  conduct ;  thus  bringing  into  practical 
result  the  sound  principle  of  ministerial  responsibility,  with- 
out which,  except  in  some  peculiar  case  of  local  urgency  or 
political  crisis,  the  name  of  constitutional  government  is  but 
a  mockery.  Many  of  the  royalist  nobles  united  for  the  na- 
tional cause;  and  even  the  stadtholderess  joined  her  efforts 
to  theirs,  for  an  object  which  would  relieve  her  from  the 
tyranny  which  none  felt  more  than  she  did.  Those  who 
composed  this  confederacy  against  the  minister  were  actu- 
ated by  a  great  variety  of  motives.  The  duchess  of  Parma 
hated  him,  as  a  domestic  spy  robbing  her  of  all  real  authority ; 
the  royalist  nobles,  as  an  insolent  upstart  at  every  instant 
mortifying  their  pride.  The  counts  Egmont  and  Horn,  with 
nobler  sentiments,  opposed  him  as  the  author  of  their  coun- 
try's growing  misfortunes.  But  it  is  doubtful  if  any  of  the 
confederates  except  the  Prince  of  Orange  clearly  saw  that 
they  were  putting  themselves  in  direct  and  personal  opposi- 
tion to  the  king  himself.  William  alone,  clear-sighted  in 
politics  and  profound  in  his  views,  knew,  in  thus  devoting 
himself  to  the  public  cause,  the  adversary  with  whom  he 
entered  the  lists. 

This  great  man,  for  whom  the  national  traditions  still 
preserve  the  sacred  title  of  "father"  (Vader-Willem),  and 
who  was  in  truth  not  merely  the  parent  but  the  political  cre- 
ator of  the  country,  was  at  this  period  in  his  thirtieth  year. 
He  already  joined  the  vigor  of  manhood  to  the  wisdom  of 
age.  Brought  up  under  the  eye  of  Charles  V.,  whose  sa- 
gacity soon  discovered  his  precocious  talents,  he  was  ad- 


TO    ESTABLISHMENT   OF   THE   INQUISITION  113 

mitted  to  the  councils  of  the  emperor  at  a  time  of  life  which 
was  little  advanced  beyond  mere  boyhood.  He  alone  was 
chosen  by  this  powerful  sovereign  to  be  present  at  the  audi- 
ences which  he  gave  to  foreign  ambassadors,  which  proves 
that  in  early  youth  he  well  deserved  by  his  discretion  the 
surname  of  "the  taciturn."  It  was  on  the  arm  of  William, 
then  twenty  years  of  age,  and  already  named  by  him  to  the 
command  of  the  Belgian  troops,  that  this  powerful  monarch 
leaned  for  support  on  the  memorable  day  of  his  abdication; 
and  he  immediately  afterward  employed  him  on  the  impor- 
tant mission  of  bearing  the  imperial  crown  to  his  brother 
Ferdinand,  in  whose  favor  he  had  resigned  it.  William's 
grateful  attachment  to  Charles  did  not  blind  him  to  the  de- 
merits of  Philip.  He  repaired  to  France,  as  one  of  the  hos- 
tages on  the  part  of  the  latter  monarch  foj  the  fulfilment  of 
the  peace  of  Gateau  Cambresis ;  and  he  then  learned  from 
the  lips  of  Henry  II.,  who  soon  conceived  a  high  esteem  for 
him,  the  measures  reciprocally  agreed  on  by  the  two  sover- 
eigns for  the  oppression  of  their  subjects.  From  that  mo- 
ment his  mind  was  made  up  on  the  character  of  Philip,  and 
on  the  part  which  he  had  himself  to  perform ;  and  he  never 
felt  a  doubt  on  the  first  point,  nor  swerved  from  the  latter. 
But  even  before  his  patriotism  was  openly  displayed, 
Philip  had  taken  a  dislike  to  one  in  whom  his  shrewdness 
quickly  discovered  an  intellect  of  which  he  was  jealous. 
He  could  not  actually  remove  William  from  all  interfer- 
ence with  public  affairs;  but  he  refused  him  the  govern- 
ment of  Flanders,  and  opposed,  in  secret,  his  projected  mar- 
riage with  a  princess  oi  the  House  of  Lorraine,  which  was 
calculated  to  bring  him  a  considerable  accession  of  fortune, 
and  consequently  of  influence.  It  may  be  therefore  said 
that  William,  in  his  subsequent  conduct,  was  urged  by  mo- 
tives of  personal  enmity  against  Philip.  Be  it  so.  We  do 
not  seek  to  raise  him  above  the  common  feelings  of  human- 
ity ;  and  we  should  risk  the  sinking  him  below  them,  if  we 
supposed  him  insensible  to  the  natural  effects  of  just 
resentment. 


114  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

The  secret  impulses  of  conduct  can  never  be  known  be- 
yond the  individual's  own  breast ;  but  actions  must,  however 
questionable,  be  taken  as  the  tests  of  motives.  In  all  those 
of  William's  illustrious  career  we  can  detect  none  that  might 
be  supposed  to  spring  from  vulgar  or  base  feelings.  If  his 
hostility  to  Philip  was  indeed  increased  by  private  dislike, 
he  has  at  least  set  an  example  of  unparalleled  dignity  in  his 
method  of  revenge;  but  in  calmly  considering  and  weigh- 
ing, without  deciding  on  the  question,  we  see  nothing  that 
should  deprive  "William  of  an  unsullied  title  to  pure  and  per- 
fect patriotism.  The  injuries  done  to  him  by  Philip  at  this 
period  were  not  of  a  nature  to  excite  any  violent  hatred. 
Enough  of  public  wrong  was  inflicted  to  arouse  the  patriot, 
but  not  of  private  ill  to  inflame  the  man.  Neither  was  "Wil- 
liam of  a  vindictive  disposition.  He  was  never  known  to 
turn  the  knife  of  an  assassin  against  his  royal  rival,  even 
when  the  blade  hired  by  the  latter  glanced  from  him  reeking 
with  his  blood.  And  though  William's  enmity  may  have 
been  kept  alive  or  strengthened  by  the  provocations  he  re- 
ceived, it  is  certain  that,  if  a  foe  to  the  king,  he  was,  as 
long  as  it  was  possible,  the  faithful  counsellor  of  the  crown. 
He  spared  no  pains  to  impress  on  the  monarch  who  hated 
him  the  real  means  for  preventing  the  coming  evils;  and 
had  not  a  revolution  been  absolutely  inevitable,  it  is  he  who 
would  have  prevented  it. 

Such  was  the  chief  of  the  patriot  party,  chosen  by  the 
silent  election  of  general  opinion,  and  by  that  involuntary 
homage  to  genius  which  leads  individuals  in  the  train  of 
those  master-minds  who  take  the  lead  in  public  affairs. 
Counts  Egmont  and  Horn,  and  some  others,  largely  shared 
with  him  the  popular  favor.  The  multitude  could  not  for 
some  time  distinguish  the  uncertain  and  capricious  opposi- 
tion of  an  offended  courtier  from  the  determined  resistance 
of  a  great  man.  William  was  still  comparatively  young; 
he  had  lived  long  out  of  the  country;  and  it  was  little  by 
little  that  his  eminent  public  virtues  were  developed  and 
understood. 


TO    ESTABLISHMENT    OF    THE    INQUISITION  115 

The  great  object  of  immediate  good  was  the  removal  of 
Cardinal  Granvelle.  "William  boldly  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  the  confederacy.  He  wrote  to  the  king,  conjointly  with 
Counts  Egmont  and  Horn,  faithfully  portraying  the  state 
of  affairs.  The  duchess  of  Parma  backed  this  remonstrance 
with  a  strenuous  request  for  Granvelle's  dismission.  Philip's 
reply  to  the  three  noblemen  was  a  mere  tissue  of  duplicity  to 
obtain  delay,  accompanied  by  an  invitation  to  Count  Egmont 
to  repair  to  Madrid,  to  hear  his  sentiments  at  large  by  word 
of  mouth.  His  only  answer  to  the  stadtholderess  was  a  posi- 
tive recommendation  to  use  every  possible  means  to  disunite 
and  breed  ill-will  among  the  three  confederate  lords.  It  was 
difficult  to  deprive  William  of  the  confidence  of  his  friends, 
and  impossible  to  deceive  him.  He  saw  the  trap  prepared 
by  the  royal  intrigues,  restrained  Egmont  for  a  while  from 
the  fatal  step  he  was  but  too  well  inclined  to  take,  and  per- 
suaded him  and  Horn  to  renew  with  him  their  firm  but  re- 
spectful representations;  at  the  same  time  begging  permis- 
sion to  resign  their  various  employments,  and  simultaneously 
ceasing  to  appear  at  the  court  of  the  stadtholderess. 

In  the  meantime  every  possible  indignity  was  offered  to 
the  cardinal  by  private  pique  and  public  satire.  Several 
lords,  following  Count  Egmont's  example,  had  a  kind  of 
capuchon  or  fool's-cap  embroidered  on  the  liveries  of  their 
varlets;  and  it  was  generally  known  that  this  was  meant 
as  a  practical  parody  on  the  cardinal's  hat.  The  crowd 
laughed  heartily  at  this  stupid  pleasantry;  and  the  coarse 
satire  of  the  times  may  be  judged  by  a  caricature,  which 
was  forwarded  to  the  cardinal's  own  hands,  representing 
him  in  the  act  of  hatching  a  nest  full  of  eggs,  from  which 
a  crowd  of  bishops  escaped,  while  overhead  was  the  devil  in 
proprid  persond,  with  the  following  scroll:  "This  is  my 
well-beloved  son — listen  to  him!" 

Philip,  thus  driven  before  the  popular  voice,  found  him- 
self forced  to  the  choice  of  throwing  off  the  mask  at  once, 
or  of  sacrificing  Granvelle.  An  invincible  inclination  for 
mancauvring  and  deceit  decided  him  on  the  latter  measure ; 


116  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

and  the  cardinal,  recalled  but  not  disgraced,  quitted  the 
Netherlands  on  the  10th  of  March,  1564.  The  secret  in- 
structions to  the  stadtholderess  remained  unrevoked;  the 
president  Viglius  succeeded  to  the  post  which  Granvelle 
had  occupied;  and  it  was  clear  that  the  projects  of  the 
king  had  suffered  no  change. 

Nevertheless  some  good  resulted  from  the  departure  of 
the  unpopular  minister.  The  public  fermentation  subsided ; 
the  patriot  lords  reappeared  at  court;  and  the  Prince  of 
Orange  acquired  an  increasing  influence  in  the  council  and 
over  the  stadtholderess,  who  by  his  advice  adopted  a  con- 
ciliatory line  of  conduct — a  fallacious  but  still  a  temporary 
hope  for  the  nation.  But  the  calm  was  of  short  duration. 
Scarcely  was  this  moderation  evinced  by  the  government, 
when  Philip,  obstinate  in  his  designs,  and  outrageous  in  his 
resentment,  sent  an  order  to  have  the  edicts  against  heresy 
put  into  most  rigorous  execution,  and  to  proclaim  through- 
out the  seventeen  provinces  the  furious  decree  of  the  Council 
of  Trent. 

The  revolting  cruelty  and  illegality  of  the  first  edicts 
were  already  admitted.  As  to  the  decrees  of  this  memora- 
ble council,  they  were  only  adapted  for  countries  in  sub- 
mission to  an  absolute  despotism.  They  were  received  in 
the  Netherlands  with  general  reprobation.  Even  the  new 
bishops  loudly  denounced  them  as  unjust  innovations;  and 
thus  Philip  found  zealous  opponents  in  those  on  whom  he 
had  reckoned  as  Ms  most  servile  tools.  The  stadtholderess 
was  not  the  less  urged  to  implicit  obedience  to  the  orders 
of  the  king  by  Viglius  and  De  Berlaimont,  who  took  upon 
themselves  an  almost  menacing  tone.  The  duchess  assem- 
bled a  council  of  state,  and  asked  its  advice  as  to  her  pro- 
ceedings. The  Prince  of  Orange  at  once  boldly  proposed 
disobedience  to  measures  fraught  with  danger  to  the  mon- 
archy and  ruin  to  the  nation.  The  council  could  not  resist 
his  appeal  to  their  best  feelings.  His  proposal  that  fresh 
remonstrances  should  be  addressed  to  the  king  met  with 
almost  general  support.  The  president  Viglius,  who  had 


TO   ESTABLISHMENT   OF   THE    INQUISITION  117 

spoken  in  the  opening  of  the  council  in  favor  of  the  king's 
orders,  was  overwhelmed  by  William's  reasoning,  and  de- 
manded time  to  prepare  his  reply.  His  agitation  during  the 
debate,  and  his  despair  of  carrying  the  measures  against  the 
patriot  party,  brought  on  in  the  night  an  attack  of  apoplexy. 

It  was  resolved  to  despatch  a  special  envoy  to  Spain,  to 
explain  to  Philip  the  views  of  the  council,  and  to  lay  before 
him  a  plan  proposed  by  the  Prince  of  Orange  for  forming  a 
junction  between  the  two  councils  and  that  of  finance,  and 
forming  them  into  one  body.  The  object  of  this  measure 
was  at  once  to  give  greater  union  and  power  to  the  provis- 
ional government,  to  create  a  central  administration  in  the 
Netherlands,  and  to  remove  from  some  obscure  and  avari- 
cious financiers  the  exclusive  management  of  the  national 
resources.  The  Count  of  Egmont,  chosen  by  the  council 
for  this  important  mission,  set  out  for  Madrid  in  the  month 
of  February,  1565.  Philip  received  him  with  profound  hy- 
pocrisy ;  loaded  him  with  the  most  flattering  promises ;  sent 
him  back  in  the  utmost  elation:  and  when  the  credulous 
count  returned  to  Brussels,  he  found  that  the  written  or- 
ders, of  which  he  was  the  bearer,  were  in  direct  variance 
with  every  word  which  the  king  had  uttered. 

These  orders  were  chiefly  concerning  the  reiterated  sub- 
ject of  the  persecution  to  be  inflexibly  pursued  against  the 
religious  reformers.  Not  satisfied  with  the  hitherto  estab- 
lished forms  of  punishment,  Philip  now  expressly  com- 
manded that  the  more  revolting  means  decreed  by  his 
father  in  the  rigor  of  his  early  zeal,  such  as  burning,  liv- 
ing burial,  and  the  like,  should  be  adopted;  and  he  some- 
what more  obscurely  directed  that  the  victims  should  be 
no  longer  publicly  immolated,  but  secretly  destroyed.  He 
endeavored,  by  this  vague  phraseology,  to  avoid  the  actual 
utterance  of  the  word  "inquisition" ;  but  he  thus  virtually  es- 
tablished that  atrocious  tribunal,  with  attributes  still  more 
terrific  than  even  in  Spain ;  for  there  the  condemned  had  at 
least  the  consolation  of  dying  in  open  day,  and  of  displaying 
the  fortitude  which  is  rarely  proof  against  the  horror  of  a 


118  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

private  execution.  Philip  had  thus  consummated  his  trea- 
son against  the  principles  of  justice  and  the  practices  of 
jurisprudence,  which  had  heretofore  characterized  the  coun- 
try ;  and  against  the  most  vital  of  those  privileges  which  he 
had  solemnly  sworn  to  maintain. 

His  design  of  establishing  this  horrible  tribunal,  so  impi- 
ously named  "holy"  by  its  founders,  had  been  long  suspected 
by  the  people  of  the  Netherlands.  The  expression  of  those 
fears  had  reached  him  more  than  once.  He  as  often  replied 
by  assurances  that  he  had  formed  no  such  project,  and  par- 
ticularly to  Count  d'Egmont  during  his  recent  visit  to  Ma- 
drid. But  at  that  very  time  he  assembled  a  conclave  of 
his  creatures,  doctors  of  theology,  of  whom  he  formally  de- 
manded an  opinion  as  to  whether  he  could  conscientiously 
tolerate  two  sorts  of  religion  in  the  Netherlands.  The  doc- 
tors, hoping  to  please  him,  replied,  that  "he  might,  for  the 
avoidance  of  a  greater  evil."  Philip  trembled  with  rage, 
and  exclaimed,  with  a  threatening  tone,  "I  ask  not  if  I  ccm, 
but  if  I  ought. ' '  The  theologians  read  in  this  question  the 
nature  of  the  expected  reply;  and  it  was  amply  conformable 
to  his  wish.  He  immediately  threw  himself  on  his  knees 
before  a  crucifix,  and  raising  his  hands  toward  heaven,  put 
up  a  prayer  for  strength  in  his  resolution  to  pursue  as 
deadly  enemies  all  who  viewed  that  effigy  with  feelings 
different  from  his  own.  If  this  were  not  really  a  sacrile- 
gious farce,  it  must  be  that  the  blaspheming  bigot  believed 
the  Deity  to  be  a  monster  of  cruelty  like  himself. 

Even  Viglius  was  terrified  by  the  nature  of  Philip's  com- 
mands ;  and  the  patriot  lords  once  more  withdrew  from  all 
share  in  the  government,  leaving  to  the  duchess  of  Parma 
and  her  ministers  the  whole  responsibility  of  the  new  meas- 
ures. They  were  at  length  put  into  actual  and  vigorous  ex- 
ecution in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1566.  The  inquisitors 
of  the  faith,  with  their  familiars,  stalked  abroad  boldly  in 
the  devoted  provinces,  carrying  persecution  and  death  in 
their  train.  Numerous  but  partial  insurrections  opposed 
these  odious  intruders.  Every  district  and  town  became 


TO    ESTABLISHMENT    OF    THE    INQUISITION  H9 

the  scene  of  frightful  executions  or  tumultuous  resistance. 
The  converts  to  the  new  doctrines  multiplied,  as  usual, 
under  the  effects  of  persecution.  "There  was  nowhere  to 
be  seen,"  says  a  contemporary  author,  "the  meanest  me- 
chanic who  did  not  find  a  weapon  to  strike  down  the  mur- 
derers of  his  compatriots."  Holland,  Zealand  and  Utrecht 
alone  escaped  from  those  fast  accumulating  horrors.  Wil- 
liam of  Nassau  was  there. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

COMMENCEMENT    OP   THE    REVOLUTION 

A.D.   1566 

THE  stadtholderess  and  her  ministers  now  began  to 
tremble.  Philip's  favorite  counsellors  advised  him 
to  yield  to  the  popular  despair;  but  nothing  could 
change  his  determination  to  pursue  his  bloody  game  to  the 
last  chance.  He  had  foreseen  the  impossibility  of  reducing 
the  country  to  slavery  as  long  as  it  maintained  its  tranquil- 
lity, and  that  union  which  forms  in  itself  the  elements  and 
the  cement  of  strength.  It  was  from  deep  calculation  that 
he  had  excited  the  troubles,  and  now  kept  them  alive.  He 
knew  that  the  structure  of  illegal  power  could  only  be 
raised  on  the  ruins  of  public  rights  and  national  happi- 
ness; and  the  materials  of  desolation  found  sympathy  in 
his  congenial  mind. 

And  now  in  reality  began  the  awful  revolution  of  the 
Netherlands  against  their  tyrant.  In  a  few  years  this  so 
lately  flourishing  and  happy  nation  presented  a  frightful 
picture;  and  in  the  midst  of  European  peace,  prosperity, 
and  civilization,  the  wickedness  of  one  prince  drew  down  on 
the  country  he  misgoverned  more  evils  than  it  had  suf- 
fered for  centuries  from  the  worst  effects  of  its  foreign  foes. 

William  of  Nassau  has  been  accused  of  having  at  length 
urged  on  the  stadtholderess  to  promulgate  the  final  edicts 
and  the  resolutions  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  and  then  retir- 
ing from  the  council  of  state.  This  line  of  conduct  may  be 
safely  admitted  and  fairly  defended  by  his  admirers.  He 
had  seen  the  uselessness  of  remonstrance  against  the  inten- 
tions of  the  king.  Every  possible  means  had  been  tried, 
without  effect,  to  soften  his  pitiless  heart  to  the  sufferings 
(120) 


COMMENCEMENT   OF   THE    REVOLUTION  181 

of  the  country.  At  length  the  moment  came  when  the 
people  had  reached  that  pitch  of  despair  which  is  the  great 
force  of  the  oppressed,  and  William  felt  that  their  strength 
was  now  equal  to  the  contest  he  had  long  foreseen.  It  is 
therefore  absurd  to  accuse  him  of  artifice  in  the  exercise  of 
that  wisdom  which  rarely  failed  him  on  any  important 
crisis.  A  change  of  circumstances  gives  a  new  name  to 
actions  and  motives ;  and  it  would  be  hard  to  blame  Wil- 
liam of  Nassau  for  the  only  point  in  which  he  bore  the  least 
resemblance  to  Philip  of  Spain — that  depth  of  penetration, 
which  the  latter  turned  to  every  base  and  the  former  to 
every  noble  purpose. 

Up  to  the  present  moment  the  Prince  of  Orange  and  the 
Counts  Egmont  and  Horn,  with  their  partisans  and  friends, 
had  sincerely  desired  the  public  peace,  and  acted  in  the 
common  interest  of  the  king  and  the  people.  But  all  the 
nobles  had  not  acted  with  the  same  constitutional  moder- 
ation. Many  of  those,  disappointed  on  personal  accounts, 
others  professing  the  new  doctrines,  and  the  rest  variously 
affected  by  manifold  motives,  formed  a  body  of  violent  and 
sometimes  of  imprudent  malcontents.  The  marriage  of  Alex- 
ander, prince  of  Parma,  son  of  the  stadtholderess,  which 
was  at  this  time  celebrated  at  Brussels,  brought  together 
an  immense  number  of  these  dissatisfied  nobles,  who  be- 
came thus  drawn  into  closer  connection,  and  whose  na- 
tional candor  was  more  than  usually  brought  out  in  the 
confidential  intercourse  of  society.  Politics  and  patriotism 
were  the  common  subjects  of  conversation  in  the  various 
convivial  meetings  that  took  place.  Two  German  nobles, 
Counts  Holle  and  Schwarzemberg,  at  that  period  in  the 
Netherlands,  loudly  proclaimed  the  favorable  disposition  of 
the  princes  of  the  empire  toward  the  Belgians.  It  was 
supposed  even  thus  early  that  negotiations  had  been  opened 
with  several  of  those  sovereigns.  In  short,  nothing  seemed 
wanting  but  a  leader,  to  give  consistency  and  weight  to  the 
confederacy  which  was  as  yet  but  in  embryo.  This  was 

doubly  furnished  in  the  persons  of   Louis  of  Nassau  and 
Holland.— £ 


122  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

Henry  de  Brederode.  The  former,  brother  of  the  Prince 
of  Orange,  was  possessed  of  many  of  those  brilliant  quali- 
ties which  mark  men  as  worthy  of  distinction  in  times  of 
peril.  Educated  at  Geneva,  he  was  passionately  attached 
to  the  reformed  religion,  and  identified  in  his  hatred  the 
Catholic  Church  and  the  tyranny  of  Spain.  Brave  and  im- 
petuous, he  was,  to  his  elder  brother,  but  as  an  adventur- 
ous partisan  compared  with  a  sagacious  general.  He  loved 
William  as  well  as  he  did  their  common  cause,  and  his  life 
was  devoted  to  both. 

Henry  de  Brederode,  lord  of  Vienen  and  marquis  of 
Utrecht,  was  descended  from  the  ancient  counts  of  Hol- 
land. This  illustrious  origin,  which  in  his  own  eyes  formed 
a  high  claim  to  distinction,  had  not  procured  him  any  of 
those  employments  or  dignities  which  he  considered  his 
due.  He  was  presumptuous  and  rash,  and  rather  a  fluent 
speaker  than  an  eloquent  orator.  Louis  of  Nassau  was 
thoroughly  inspired  by  the  justice  of  the  cause  he  espoused ; 
De  Brederode  espoused  it  for  the  glory  of  becoming  its  cham- 
pion. The  first  only  wished  for  action ;  the  latter  longed  for 
distinction.  But  neither  the  enthusiasm  of  Nassau,  nor  the 
vanity  of  De  Brederode,  was  allied  with  those  superior  at- 
tributes required  to  form  a  hero. 

The  confederation  acquired  its  perfect  organization  in 
the  month  of  February,  1566,  on  the  tenth  of  which  month 
its  celebrated  manifesto  was  signed  by  its  numerous  adher- 
ents. The  first  name  affixed  to  this  document  was  that  of 
Philip  de  Marnix,  lord  of  St.  Aldegonde,  from  whose  pen 
it  emanated;  a  man  of  great  talents  both  as  soldier  and 
writer.  Numbers  of  the  nobility  followed  him  on  this 
muster-roll  of  patriotism,  and  many  of  the  most  zealous 
royalists  were  among  them.  This  remarkable  proclama- 
tion of  general  feeling  consisted  chiefly  in  a  powerful  rep- 
rehension of  the  illegal  establishment  of  the  Inquisition  in 
the  Low  Countries,  and  a  solemn  obligation  on  the  mem- 
bers of  the  confederacy  to  unite  in  the  common  cause  against 
this  detested  nuisance.  Men  of  all  ranks  and  classes  offered 


COMMENCEMENT    OF    THE    REVOLUTION  123 

their  signatures,  and  several  Catholic  priests  among  the  rest. 
The  Prince  of  Orange,  and  the  Counts  Egmont,  Horn,  and 
Meghem,  declined  becoming  actual  parties  to  this  bold  meas- 
ure ;  and  when  the  question  was  debated  as  to  the  most  ap- 
propriate way  of  presenting  an  address  to  the  stadtholderess 
these  noblemen  advised  the  mildest  and  most  respectful  de- 
meanor on  the  part  of  the  purposed  deputation. 

At  the  first  intelligence  of  these  proceedings,  the  duchess 
of  Parma,  absorbed  by  terror,  had  no  resource  but  to  assem- 
ble hastily  such  members  of  the  council  of  state  as  were  at 
Brussels;  and  she  entreated,  by  the  most  pressing  letters, 
the  Prince  of  Orange  and  Count  Horn  to  resume  their  places 
at  this  council.  But  three  courses  of  conduct  seemed  ap- 
plicable to  the  emergency :  to  take  up  arms ;  to  grant  the 
demands  of  the  confederates ;  or  to  temporize  and  to  amuse 
them  with  a  feint  of  moderation,  until  the  orders  of  the 
king  might  be  obtained  from  Spain.  It  was  not,  however, 
till  after  a  lapse  of  four  months  that  the  council  finally  met 
to  deliberate  on  these  important  questions ;  and  during  this 
long  interval  at  such  a  crisis  the  confederates  gained  con- 
stant accessions  to  their  numbers,  and  completely  consoli- 
dated their  plans.  The  opinions  in  the  council  were  greatly 
divided  as  to  the  mode  of  treatment  toward  those  whom  one 
party  considered  as  patriots  acting  in  their  constitutional 
rights,  and  the  other  as  rebels  in  open  revolt  against  the 
king.  The  Prince  of  Orange  and  De  Berlaimont  were  the 
principal  leaders  and  chief  speakers  on  either  side.  But 
the  reasonings  of  the  former,  backed  by  the  urgency  of 
vrents,  carried  the  majority  of  the  suffrages;  and  a  prom- 
ised redress  of  grievances  was  agreed  on  beforehand  as  the 
anticipated  answer  to  the  coming  demands. 

Even  while  the  council  of  state  held  its  sittings,  the  re- 
port was  spread  through  Brussels  that  the  confederates  were 
approaching.  And  at  length  they  did  enter  the  city,  to  the 
amount  of  some  hundreds  of  the  representatives  of  the  first 
families  in  the  country.  On  the  following  day,  the  5th  of 
April,  1566,  they  walked  in  solemn  procession  to  the  palace. 


124  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

Their  demeanor  was  highly  imposing,  from  their  mingled  air 
of  forbearance  and  determination.  All  Brussels  thronged 
out  to  gaze  and  sympathize  with  this  extraordinary  spec- 
tacle of  men  whose  resolute  step  showed  they  were  no  com- 
mon suppliants,  but  whose  modest  bearing  had  none  of  the 
seditious  air  of  faction.  The  stadtholderess  received  the  dis- 
tinguished petitioners  with  courtesy,  listened  to  their  detail 
of  grievances,  and  returned  a  moderate,  conciliatory,  but 
evasive  answer. 

The  confederation,  which  owed  its  birth  to,  and  was 
cradled  in  social  enjoyments,  was  consolidated  in  the  midst 
of  a  feast.  The  day  following  this  first  deputation  to  the 
stadtholderess,  De  Brederode  gave  a  grand  repast  to  his  as- 
sociates in  the  Hotel  de  Culembourg.  Three  hundred  guests 
were  present.  Inflamed  by  joy  and  hope,  their  spirits  rose 
high  under  the  influence  of  wine,  and  temperance  gave  way 
to  temerity.  In  the  midst  of  their  carousing,  some  of  the 
members  remarked  that  when  the  stadtholderess  received 
the  written  petition,  Count  Berlaimont  observed  to  her  that 
"she  had  nothing  to  fear  from  such  a  band  of  beggars" 
(tas  de  GUEUX).  The  fact  was  that  many  of  the  confed- 
erates were,  from  individual  extravagance  and  mismanage- 
ment, reduced  to  such  a  state  of  poverty  as  to  justify  in 
some  sort  the  sarcasm.  The  chiefs  of  the  company  being 
at  that  very  moment  debating  on  the  name  which  they 
should  choose  for  this  patriotic  league,  the  title  of  Gueux 
was  instantly  proposed,  and  adopted  with  acclamation. 
The  reproach  it  was  originally  intended  to  convey  became 
neutralized,  as  its  general  application  to  men  of  all  ranks 
and  fortunes  concealed  its  effect  as  a  stigma  on  many  to 
whom  it  might  be  seriously  applied.  Neither  were  exam- 
ples wanting  of  the  most  absurd  and  apparently  dishonor- 
ing nicknames  being  elsewhere  adopted  by  powerful  political 
parties.  "Long  live  the  Gueux!"  was  the  toast  given  and 
tumultuously  drunk  by  this  mad-brained  company;  and 
Brederode,  setting  no  bounds  to  the  boisterous  excitement 
which  followed,  procured  immediately,  and  slung  across  his 


COMMENCEMENT   OF   THE    REVOLUTION  125 

shoulders,  a  wallet  such  as  was  worn  by  pilgrims  and  beg- 
gars; drank  to  the  health  of  all  present,  in  a  wooden  cup 
or  porringer;  and  loudly  swore  that  he  was  ready  to  sacri- 
fice his  fortune  and  life  for  the  common  cause.  Each  man 
passed  round  the  bowl,  which  he  first  put  to  his  lips,  re- 
peated the  oath,  and  thus  pledged  himself  to  the  compact. 
The  wallet  next  went  the  rounds  of  the  whole  assembly 
and  was  finally  hung  upon  a  nail  driven  into  the  wall  for 
the  purpose;  and  gazed  on  with  such  enthusiasm  as  the 
emblems  of  political  or  religious  faith,  however  worthless 
or  absurd,  never  fail  to  inspire  in  the  minds  of  enthusiasts. 
The  tumult  caused  by  this  ceremony,  so  ridiculous  in 
itself,  but  so  sublime  in  its  results,  attracted  to  the  spot 
the  Prince  of  Orange  and  Counts  Egmont  and  Horn,  whose 
presence  is  universally  attributed  by  the  historians  to  acci- 
dent, but  which  was  probably  that  kind  of  chance  that 
leads  medical  practitioners  in  our  days  to  the  field  where 
a  duel  is  fought.  They  entered;  and  Brederode,  who  did 
the  honors  of  the  mansion,  forced  them  to  be  seated,  and 
to  join  in  the  festivity.  The  following  was  Egmont's  ac- 
count of  their  conduct:  "We  drank  a  single  glass  of  wine 
each,  to  shouts  of  'Long  live  the  king!  Long  live  the 
Gueux!'  It  was  the  first  time  I  had  heard  the  confeder- 
acy so  named,  and  I  avow  that  it  displeased  me;  but  the 
times  were  so  critical  that  people  were  obliged  to  tolerate 
many  things  contrary  to  their  inclinations,  and  I  believed  my- 
self on  this  occasion  to  act  with  perfect  innocence."  The 
appearance  of  three  such  distinguished  personages  height- 
ened the  general  excitement;  and  the  most  important  as- 
semblage that  had  for  centuries  met  together  in  the  Nether- 
lands mingled  the  discussion  of  affairs  of  state  with  all  the 
burlesque  extravagance  of  a  debauch.  But  this  frantic 
scene  did  not  finish  the  affair.  What  they  resolved  on 
while  drunk,  they  prepared  to  perform  when  sober.  Rally- 
ing signs  and  watchwords  were  adopted  and  soon  displayed. 
It  was  thought  that  nothing  better  suited  the  occasion  than 
the  immediate  adoption  of  the  costume  as  well  as  the  title 


126  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

of  beggary.  In  a  very  few  days  the  city  streets  were  filled 
with  men  in  gray  cloaks,  fashioned  on  the  model  of  those 
used  by  mendicants  and  pilgrims.  Each  confederate  caused 
this  uniform  to  be  worn  by  every  member  of  his  family,  and 
replaced  with  it  the  livery  of  his  servants.  Several  fast- 
ened to  their  girdles  or  their  sword-hilts  small  wooden  drink- 
ing-cups,  clasp-knives,  and  other  symbols  of  the  begging 
fraternity;  while  all  soon  wore  on  their  breasts  a  medal  of 
gold  or  silver,  representing  on  one  side  the  effigy  of  Philip, 
with  the  words,  "Faithful  to  the  king" ;  and  on  the  reverse, 
two  hands  clasped,  with  the  motto,  "Jusqu'  a  la  besace" 
(Even  to  the  wallet).  From  this  origin  arose  the  applica- 
tion of  the  word  Gueux,  in  its  political  sense,  as  common 
to  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  Netherlands  who  embraced  the 
cause  of  the  Reformation  and  took  up  arms  against  their 
tyrant.  Having  presented  two  subsequent  remonstrances 
to  the  stadtholderess,  and  obtained  some  consoling  promises 
of  moderation,  the  chief  confederates  quitted  Brussels,  leav- 
ing several  directors  to  sustain  their  cause  in  the  capital; 
while  they  themselves  spread  into  the  various  provinces, 
exciting  the  people  to  join  the  legal  and  constitutional 
resistance  with  which  they  were  resolved  to  oppose  the 
march  of  bigotry  and  despotism. 

A  new  form  of  edict  was  now  decided  on  by  the  stadt- 
holderess and  her  council;  and  after  various  insidious  and 
illegal  but  successful  tricks,  the  consent  of  several  of  the 
provinces  was  obtained  to  the  adoption  of  measures  that, 
under  a  guise  of  comparative  moderation,  were  little  less 
abominable  than  those  commanded  by  the  king.  These 
were  formally  signed  by  the  council,  and  despatched  to 
Spam  to  receive  Philip's  sanction,  and  thus  acquire  the 
force  of  law.  The  embassy  to  Madrid  was  confided  to 
the  marquis  of  Bergen  and  the  baron  de  Montigny;  the 
latter  of  whom  was  brother  to  Count  Horn,  and  had  for- 
merly been  employed  on  a  like  mission.  Montigny  appears 
to  have  had  some  qualms  of  apprehension  in  undertaking 
this  new  office.  His  good  genius  seemed  for  a  while  to 


COMMENCEMENT    OF    THE    REVOLUTION 

stand  between  him  and  the  fate  which  awaited  him.  An 
accident  which  happened  to  his  colleague  allowed  an  excuse 
for  retarding  his  journey.  But  the  stadtholderess  urged  him 
away :  he  set  out,  and  reached  his  destination ;  not  to  defend 
the  cause  of  his  country  at  the  foot  of  the  throne,  but  to 
perish  a  victim  to  his  patriotism. 

The  situation  of  the  patriot  lords  was  at  this  crisis  pecul- 
iarly embarrassing.  The  conduct  of  the  confederates  was 
so  essentially  tantamount  to  open  rebellion,  that  the  Prince 
of  Orange  and  his  friends  found  it^-lmost  impossible  to  pre- 
serve a  neutrality  between  the  court  and  the  people.  All 
their  wishes  urged  them  to  join  at  once  in  the  public  cause; 
but  they  were  restrained  by  a  lingering  sense  of  loyalty  to 
the  king,  whose  employments  they  still  held,  and  whose 
confidence  they  were,  therefore,  nominally  supposed  to 
share.  They  seemed  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  coming 
to  an  explanation,  and,  perhaps,  a  premature  rupture  with 
the  government;  of  joining  in  the  harsh  measures  it  was 
likely  to  adopt  against  those  with  whose  proceedings  they 
sympathized;  or,  as  a  last  alternative,  to  withdraw,  as 
they  had  done  before,  wholly  from  all  interference  in  pub- 
lic affairs.  Still  their  presence  in  the  council  of  state  was, 
even  though  their  influence  had  greatly  decreased,  of  vast 
service  to  the  patriots,  in  checking  the  hostility  of  the  court; 
and  the  confederates,  on  the  other  hand,  were  restrained 
from  acts  of  open  violence,  by  fear  of  the  disapprobation  of 
these  their  best  and  most  powerful  friends.  Be  their  individ- 
ual motives  of  reasoning  what  they  might,  they  at  length 
adopted  the  alternative  above  alluded  to,  and  resigned  their 
places.  Count  Horn  retired  to  his  estates ;  Count  Egmont 
repaired  to  Aix-la-Chapelle,  under  the  pretext  of  being  or- 
dered thither  by  his  physicians;  the  Prince  of  Orange 
remained  for  a  while  at  Brussels. 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  confederation  gained  ground 
every  day.  Its  measures  had  totally  changed  the  face  of 
affairs  in  all  parts  of  the  nation.  The  general  discontent 
now  acquired  stability,  and  consequent  importance.  The 


HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

chief  merchants  of  many  of  the  towns  enrolled  themselves 
in  the  patriot  band.  Many  active  and  ardent  minds,  hith- 
erto withheld  by  the  doubtful  construction  of  the  associa- 
tion, now  freely  entered  into  it  when  it  took  the  form  of 
union  and  respectability.  Energy,  if  not  excess,  seemed 
legitimatized.  The  vanity  of  the  leaders  was  flattered  by 
the  consequence  they  acquired;  and  weak  minds  gladly 
embraced  an  occasion  of  mixing  with  those  whose  impor- 
tance gave  both  protection  and  concealment  to  their  insig- 
nificance. 

An  occasion  so  favorable  for  the  rapid  promulgation  of 
the  new  doctrines  was  promptly  taken  advantage  of  by  the 
French  Huguenots  and  their  Protestant  brethren  of  Ger- 
many. The  disciples  of  reform  poured  from  all  quarters 
into  the  Low  Countries,  and  made  prodigious  progress,  with 
all  the  energy  of  proselytes,  and  too  often  with  the  fury  of 
fanatics.'  The  three  principal  sects  into  which  the  reformers 
were  divided,  were  those  of  the  Anabaptists,  the  Calvinists, 
and  the  Lutherans.  The  first  and  least  numerous  were 
chiefly  established  in  Friesland.  The  second  were  spread 
over  the  eastern  provinces.  Their  doctrines  being  already 
admitted  into  some  kingdoms  of  the  north,  they  were  pro- 
tected by  the  most  powerful  princes  of  the  empire.  The 
third,  and  by  far  the  most  numerous  and  wealthy,  abounded 
in  the  southern  provinces,  and  particularly  in  Flanders. 
They  were  supported  by  the  zealous  efforts  of  French, 
Swiss,  and  German  ministers;  and  their  dogmas  were 
nearly  the  same  with  those  of  the  established  religion  of 
England.  The  city  of  Antwerp  was  the  central  point  of 
union  for  the  three  sects ;  but  the  only  principle  they  held 
in  common  was  their  hatred  against  popery,  the  Inquisition, 
and  Spain. 

The  stadtholderess  had  now  issued  orders  to  the  chief 
magistrates  to  proceed  with  moderation  against  the  heretics ; 
orders  which  were  obeyed  in  their  most  ample  latitude  by 
those  to  whose  sympathies  they  were  so  congenial.  Until 
then,  the  Protestants  were  satisfied  to  meet  by  stealth  at 


COMMENCEMENT    OF    THE    REVOLUTION  129 

night ;  but  under  this  negative  protection  of  the  authorities 
they  now  boldly  assembled  in  public.    Field-preachings  com- 
menced in  Flanders ;  and  the  minister  who  first  set  this  ex- 
ample was  Herman  Strieker,  a  converted  monk,  a  native 
of  Overyssel,  a  powerful  speaker,   and  a  bold  enthusiast. 
He  soon  drew  together  an  audience  of  seven  thousand  per- 
sons.    A  furious  magistrate  rushed  among  this  crowd,  and 
hoped  to  disperse  them  sword  in  hand;    but  he  was  soon 
struck  down,  mortally  wounded,  with  a  shower  of  stones. 
Irritated  and  emboldened  by  this  rash  attempt,  the  Protes- 
tants assembled  in  still  greater  numbers  near  Alost;  but  on 
this  occasion  they  appeared  with  poniards,  guns,  and  hal- 
berds.    They  intrenched  themselves  under  the  protection  of 
wagons  and  all  sorts  of  obstacles  to  a  sudden  attack ;  placed 
outposts  and  videttes ;  and  thus  took  the  field  in  the  doubly 
dangerous  aspect  of  fanaticism  and  war.     Similar  assemblies 
soon  spread  over  the  whole  of  Flanders,  inflamed  by  the 
exhortations  of  Strieker  and  another  preacher,  called  Peter 
Dathen,  of  Poperingue.     It  was  calculated  that  fifteen  thou- 
sand men  attended  at  some  of  these  preachings;    while  a 
third  apostle  of  Calvinism,  Ambrose  Ville,   a  Frenchman, 
successfully  excited   the   inhabitants   of   Tournay,  Valenci- 
ennes, and  Antwerp,  to  form  a  common  league  for  the  pro- 
mulgation of  their  faith.      The  sudden  appearance  of   De 
Brederode  at  the  latter  place  decided  their  plan,  and  gave 
the  courage  to  fix  on  a  day  for  its  execution.     An  immense 
assemblage  simultaneously  quitted  the  three  cities  at  a  pre- 
concerted time;    and  when  they  united  their  forces  at  the 
appointed    rendezvous,    the    preachings,    exhortations,    and 
psalm-singing    commenced,   under  the  auspices  of  several 
Huguenot  and  German  ministers,   and  continued  for  sev- 
eral days  in  all  the  zealous  extravagance  which  may  be  well 
imagined  to  characterize  such  a  scene. 

The  citizens  of  Antwerp  were  terrified  for  the  safety  of 

the  place,  and  courier  after  courier  was  despatched  to  the 

stadtholderess   at   Brussels   to  implore  her   presence.     The 

duchess,  not   daring  to  take  such  a  step  without  the  au- 

HOLLAND  (5) 


130  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

thority  of  the  king,  sent  Count  Meghem  as  her  representa- 
tive, with  proposals  to  the  magistrates  to  call  out  the  gar- 
rison. The  populace  soon  understood  the  object  of  this 
messenger;  and  assailing  him  with  a  violent  outcry,  forced 
him  to  fly  from  the  city.  Then  the  Calvinists  petitioned  the 
magistrates  for  permission  to  openly  exercise  their  religion, 
and  for  the  grant  of  a  temple  in  which  to  celebrate  its  rites 
The  magistrates  in  this  conjuncture  renewed  their  applica- 
tion to  the  stadtholderess,  and  entreated  her  to  send  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  as  the  only  person  capable  of  saving  the 
city  from  destruction.  The  duchess  was  forced  to  adopt  this 
bitter  alternative ;  and  the  prince,  after  repeated  refusals  to 
mix  again  in  public  affairs,  yielded,  at  length,  less  to  the 
supplications  of  the  stadtholderess  than  to  his  own  wishes 
to  do  another  service  to  the  cause  of  his  country.  At  half 
a  league  from  the  city  he  was  met  by  De  Brederode,  with  an 
immense  concourse  of  people  of  all  sects  and  opinions,  who 
hailed  him  as  a  protector  from  the  tyranny  of  the  king,  and 
a  savior  from  the  dangers  of  their  own  excess.  Nothing 
could  exceed  the  wisdom,  the  firmness,  and  the  benevolence, 
with  which  he  managed  all  conflicting  interests,  and  pre- 
served tranquillity  amid  a  chaos  of  opposing  prejudices  and 
passions. 

From  the  first  establishment  of  the  field-preachings  the 
stadtholderess  had  implored  the  confederate  lords  to  aid  her 
for  the  re-establishment  of  order.  De  Brederode  seized  this 
excuse  for  convoking  a  general  meeting  of  the  associates, 
which  consequently  took  place  at  the  town  of  St.  Trond,  in 
the  district  of  Liege.  Full  two  thousand  of  the  members 
appeared  on  the  summons.  The  language  held  in  this  as- 
sembly was  much  stronger  and  less  equivocal  than  that  for- 
merly used.  The  delay  in  the  arrival  of  the  king's  answer 
presaged  ill  as  to  his  intentions ;  while  the  rapid  growth  of 
the  public  power  seemed  to  mark  the  present  as  the  time  for 
successfully  demanding  all  that  the  people  required.  Sev- 
eral of  the  Catholic  members,  still  royalists  at  heart,  were 
shocked  to  hear  a  total  liberty  of  conscience  spoken  of  as  one 


COMMENCEMENT    OF    THE    REVOLUTION  131 

of  the  privileges  sought  for.  The  young  count  of  Mansfield, 
among  others,  withdrew  immediately  from  the  confedera- 
tion; and  thus  the  first  stone  seemed  to  be  removed  from 
this  imperfectly  constructed  edifice. 

The  Prince  of  Orange  and  Count  Egmont  were  applied 
to,  and  appointed  by  the  stadtholderess,  with  full  powers 
to  treat  with  the  confederates.  Twelve  of  the  latter,  among 
whom  were  Louis  of  Nassau,  De  Brederode,  and  De  Culem- 
bourg,  met  them  by  appointment  at  Duffle,  a  village  not  far 
from  Mechlin.  The  result  of  the  conference  was  a  respect- 
ful but  firm  address  to  the  stadtholderess,  repelling  her  ac- 
cusations of  having  entered  into  foreign  treaties ;  declaring 
their  readiness  to  march  against  the  French  troops,  should 
they  set  foot  in  the  country;  and  claiming,  with  the  utmost 
force  of  reasoning,  the  convocation  of  the  states-general. 
This  was  replied  to  by  an  entreaty  that  they  would  still  wait 
patiently  for  twenty-four  days,  in  hopes  of  an  answer  from 
the  king ;  and  she  sent  the  marquess  of  Bergen  in  all  speed 
to  Madrid,  to  support  Montigny  in  his  efforts  to  obtain  some 
prompt  decision  from  Philip.  The  king,  who  was  then  at 
Segovia,  assembled  his  council,  consisting  of  the  duke  of 
Alva  and  eight  other  grandees.  The  two  deputies  from  the 
Netherlands  attended  at  the  deliberations,  which  were  held 
for  several  successive  days ;  but  the  king  was  never  present. 
The  whole  state  of  affairs  being  debated  with  what  appears  a 
calm  and  dispassionate  view,  considering  the  hostile  preju- 
dices of  this  council,  it  was  decided  to  advise  the  king  to 
adopt  generally  a  more  moderate  line  of  conduct  in  the 
Netherlands,  and  to  abolish  the  inquisition;  at  the  same 
time  prohibiting  under  the  most  awful  threats  all  confedera- 
tion, assemblage,  or  public  preachings,  under  any  pretext 
whatever. 

The  king's  first  care  on  receiving  this  advice  was  to 
order,  in  all  the  principal  towns  of  Spain  and  the  Nether- 
lands, prayer  and  processions  to  implore  the  divine  approba- 
tion on  the  resolutions  which  he  had  formed.  He  appeared 
then  in  person  at  the  council  of  state,  and  issued  a  decree, 


132  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

by  which  he  refused  his  consent  to  the  convocation  of  the 
states-general,  and  bound  himself  to  take  several  German 
regiments  into  his  pay.  He  ordered  the  duchess  of  Parma, 
by  a  private  letter,  to  immediately  cause  to  be  raised  three 
thousand  cavalry  and  ten  thousand  foot,  and  he  remitted  to 
her  for  this  purpose  three  hundred  thousand  florins  in  gold. 
He  next  wrote  with  his  own  hand  to  several  of  his  partisans 
in  the  various  towns,  encouraging  them  in  their  fidelity  to 
his  purpose,  and  promising  them  his  support.  He  rejected 
the  adoption  of  the  moderation  recommended  to  him;  but 
he  consented  to  the  abolition  of  the  inquisition  in  its  most 
odious  sense,  re-establishing  that  modified  species  of  eccle- 
siastical tyranny  which  had  been  introduced  into  the 
Netherlands  by  Charles  V.  The  people  of  that  devoted 
country  were  thus  successful  in  obtaining  one  important 
concession  from  the  king,  and  in  meeting  unexpected  con- 
sideration from  this  Spanish  council.  Whether  these  meas- 
ures had  been  calculated  with  a  view  to  their  failure,  it  is 
not  now  easy  to  determine;  at  all  events  they  came  too 
late.  When  Philip's  letters  reached  Brussels,  the  icono- 
clasts or  image-breakers  were  abroad. 

It  requires  no  profound  research  to  comprehend  the  im- 
pulse which  leads  a  horde  of  fanatics  to  the  most  monstrous 
excesses.  That  the  deeds  of  the  iconoclasts  arose  from  the 
spontaneous  outburst  of  mere  vulgar  fury,  admits  of  no 
doubt.  The  aspersion  which  would  trace  those  deeds  to 
the  meeting  of  St.  Trond,  and  fix  the  infamy  on  the  body 
of  nobility  there  assembled,  is  scarcely  worthy  of  refutation. 
The  very  lowest  of  the  people  were  the  actors  as  well  as  the 
authors  of  the  outrages,  which  were  at  once  shocking  to 
every  friend  of  liberty,  and  injurious  to  that  sacred  cause. 
Artois  and  western  Flanders  were  the  scenes  of  the  first  ex- 
ploits of  the  iconoclasts.  A  band  of  peasants,  intermixed 
with  beggars  and  various  other  vagabonds,  to  the  amount 
of  about  three  hundred,  urged  by  fanaticism  and  those  baser 
passions  which  animate  every  lawless  body  of  men,  armed 
with  hatchets,  clubs,  and  hammers,  forced  open  the  doors 


COMMENCEMENT   OF   THE    REVOLUTION  133 

of  some  of  the  village  churches  in  the  neighborhood  of  St. 
Omer,  and  tore  down  and  destroyed  not  only  the  images 
and  relics  of  saints,  but  those  very  ornaments  which  Chris- 
tians of  all  sects  hold  sacred,  and  essential  to  the  most 
simple  rites  of  religion. 

The  cities  of  Ypres,  Lille,  and  other  places  of  importance, 
were  soon  subject  to  similar  visitations;  and  tho  whole  of 
Flanders  was  in  a  few  days  ravaged  by  furious  multitudes, 
ivhose  frantic  energy  spread  terror  and  destruction  on  their 
route.  Antwerp  was  protected  for  a  while  by  the  presence  of 
the  Prince  of  Orange ;  but  an  order  from  the  stadtholderess 
having  obliged  him  to  repair  to  Brussels,  a  few  nights  after 
his  departure  the  celebrated  cathedral  shared  the  fate  of 
many  a  minor  temple,  and  was  utterly  piUaged.  The  blind 
fury  of  the  spoilers  was  not  confined  to  the  mere  effigies 
which  they  considered  the  types  of  idolatry,  nor  even  to 
the  pictures,  the  vases,  the  sixty-six  altars,  and  their  richly 
wrought  accessories ;  but  it  was  equally  fatal  to  the  splen- 
did organ,  which  was  considered  the  finest  at  that  time  in 
existence.  The  rapidity  and  the  order  with  which  this  torch- 
light scene  was  acted,  without  a  single  accident  among  the 
numerous  doers,  has  excited  the  wonder  of  almost  all  its 
early  historians.  One  of  them  does  not  hesitate  to  ascribe 
the  "miracle"  to  the  absolute  agency  of  demons.  For  three 
days  and  nights  these  revolting  scenes  were  acted,  and  every 
church  in  the  city  shared  the  fate  of  the  cathedral,  which 
next  to  St.  Peter's  at  Borne  was  the  most  magnificent  in 
Christendom. 

Ghent,  Tournay,  Valenciennes,  Mechlin,  and  other  cities, 
were  next  the  theatres  of  similar  excesses ;  and  in  an  incred- 
ibly short  space  of  time  above  four  hundred  churches  were 
pillaged  in  Flanders  and  Brabant.  Zealand,  Utrecht,  and 
others  of  the  northern  provinces,  suffered  more  or  less; 
Friesland,  Guelders,  and  Holland  alone  escaped,  and  even 
the  latter  but  in  partial  instances. 

These  terrible  scenes  extinguished  every  hope  of  recon- 
ciliation with  the  king.  An  inveterate  and  interminable 


134  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

hatred  was  now  established  between  him  and  the  people; 
for  the  whole  nation  was  identified  with  deeds  which  were 
in  reality  only  shared  by  the  most  base,  and  were  loathsome 
to  all  who  were  enlightened.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  patriot 
nobles  might  hope  or  strive  to  exculpate  themselves;  they 
were  sure  to  be  held  criminal  either  in  fact  or  by  implica- 
tion. No  show  of  loyalty,  no  efforts  to  restore  order,  no  per- 
sonal sacrifice,  could  save  them  from  the  hatred  or  screen 
them  from  the  vengeance  of  Philip. 

The  affright  of  the  stadtholderess  during  the  short  reign 
of  anarchy  and  terror  was  without  bounds.  She  strove  to 
make  her  escape  from  Brussels,  and  was  restrained  from  so 
doing  only  by  the  joint  solicitations  of  Viglius  and  the  vari- 
ous knights  of  the  order  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  consisting  of 
the  first  among  the  nobles  of  all  parties.  But,  in  fact,  a 
species  of  violence  was  used  to  restrain  her  from  this  most 
fatal  step ;  for  Viglius  gave  orders  that  the  gates  of  the  city 
should  be  shut,  and  egress  refused  to  any  one  belonging  to 
the  court.  The  somewhat  less  terrified  duchess  now  named 
Count  Mansfield  governor  of  the  town,  reinforced  the  garri- 
son, ordered  arms  to  be  distributed  to  all  her  adherents,  and 
then  called  a  council  to  deliberate  on  the  measures  to  be 
adopted.  A  compromise  with  the  confederates  and  the  re- 
formers was  unanimously  agreed  to.  The  Prince  of  Orange 
and  Counts  Egmont  and  Horn  were  once  more  appointed  to 
this  arduous  arbitration  between  the  court  and  the  people. 
Necessity  now  extorted  almost  every  concession  which  had 
been  so  long  denied  to  justice  and  prudence.  The  confed- 
erates were  declared  absolved  from  all  responsibility  relative 
to  their  proceedings.  The  suppression  of  the  Inquisition,  the 
abolition  of  the  edicts  against  heresy,  and  a  permission  for 
the  preachings,  were  simultaneously  published. 

The  confederates  on  their  side  undertook  to  remain  faith, 
ful  to  the  service  of  the  king,  to  do  their  best  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  order,  and  to  punish  the  iconoclasts.  A  regular 
treaty  to  this  effect  was  drawn  up  and  executed  by  the  re- 
spective plenipotentiaries,  and  formally  approved  by  the 


COMMENCEMENT    OF    THE    REVOLUTION  135 

stadtholderess,  who  affixed  her  sign-manual  to  the  instru- 
ment. She  only  consented  to  this  measure  after  a  long 
struggle,  and  with  tears  in  her  eyes;  and  it  was  with  a 
trembling  hand  that  she  wrote  an  account  of  these  trans- 
actions to  the  king. 

Soon  after  this  the  several  governors  repaired  to  their 
respective  provinces,  and  their  efforts  for  the  re-establish- 
ment of  tranquillity  were  attended  with  various  degrees  of 
success.  Several  of  the  ringleaders  in  the  late  excesses  were 
executed ;  and  this  severity  was  not  confined  to  the  partisans 
of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  Prince  of  Orange  and  Count 
Egmont,  with  others  of  the  patriot  lords,  set  the  example 
of  this  just  severity.  John  Casambrot,  lord  of  Beckerzeel, 
Egmont's  secretary,  and  a  leading  member  of  the  confedera- 
tion, put  himself  at  the  head  of  some  others  of  the  associated 
gentlemen,  fell  upon  a  refractory  band  of  iconoclasts  near 
Gramont,  in  Flanders,  and  took  thirty  prisoners,  of  whom 
he  ordered  twenty-eight  to  be  hanged  on  the  spot. 


CHAPTER  IX 

TO  THE   ADMINISTRATION   OF   REQUESENS 
A.D.  1566—1578 

ALL  the  services  just  related  in  the  common  cause  of 
the  country  and  the  king  produced  no  effect  on  the 
vindictive  spirit  of  the  latter.  Neither  the  lapse  of 
time,  the  proofs  of  repentance,  nor  the  fulfilment  of  their 
duty,  could  efface  the  hatred  excited  by  a  conscientious 
opposition  to  even  one  design  of  despotism. 

Philip  was  ill  at  Segovia  when  he  received  accounts  of 
the  excesses  of  the  image-breakers,  and  of  the  convention 
concluded  with  the  heretics.  Despatches  from  the  stadt- 
holderess,  with  private  advices  from  Viglius,  Egmont,  Mans- 
field, Meghem,  De  Berlaimont,  and  others,  gave  him  ample 
information  as  to  the  real  state  of  things,  and  they  thus 
strove  to  palliate  their  having  acceded  to  the  convention. 
The  emperor  even  wrote  to  his  royal  nephew,  imploring  him 
to  treat  his  wayward  subjects  with  moderation,  and  offered 
his  mediation  between  them.  Philip,  though  severely  suf- 
fering, gave  great  attention  to  the  details  of  this  corre- 
spondence, which  he  minutely  examined,  and  laid  before 
his  council  of  state,  with  notes  and  observations  taken  by 
himself.  But  he  took  special  care  to  send  to  them  only 
such  parts  as  he  chose  them  to  be  well  informed  upon ;  his 
natural  distrust  not  suffering  him  to  have  any  confidential 
communication  with  men. 

Again  the  Spanish  council  appears  to  have  interfered  be- 
tween the  people  of  the  Netherlands  and  the  enmity  of  the 
monarch;  and  the  offered  mediation  of  the  emperor  was 
recommended  to  his  acceptance,  to  avoid  the  appearance  of 
(136) 


TO    THE    ADMINISTRATION    OF   REQUESENS  137 

a  forced  concession  to  the  popular  will.  Philip  was  also 
strongly  urged  to  repair  to  the  scene  of  the  disturbances ;  and 
a  main  question  of  debate  was,  whether  he  should  march  at 
the  head  of  an  army  or  confide  himself  to  the  loyalty  and 
good  faith  of  his  Belgian  subjects.  But  the  indolence  or 
the  pride  of  Philip  was  too  strong  to  admit  of  his  taking  so 
vigorous  a  measure;  and  all  these  consultations  ended  in 
two  letters  to  the  stadtholderess.  In  the  first  he  declared 
bis  firm  intention  to  visit  the  Netherlands  in  person;  refused 
to  convoke  the  states-general ;  passed  in  silence  the  treaties 
concluded  with  the  Protestants  and  the  confederates;  and 
finished  by  a  declaration  that  he  would  throw  himself  wholly 
on  the  fidelity  of  the  country.  In  his  second  letter,  meant 
for  the  stadtholderess  alone,  he  authorized  her  to  assemble 
the  states-general  if  public  opinion  became  too  powerful  for 
resistance,  but  on  no  account  to  let  it  transpire  that  he  had 
under  any  circumstances  given  his  consent. 

During  these  deliberations  in  Spain,  the  Protestants  in 
the  Netherlands  amply  availed  themselves  of  the  privileges 
they  had  gained.  They  erected  numerous  wooden  churches 
with  incredible  activity.  Young  and  old,  noble  and  ple- 
beian, of  these  energetic  men,  assisted  in  the  manual  la- 
bors of  these  occupations ;  and  the  women  freely  applied  the 
produce  of  their  ornaments  and  jewels  to  forward  the  pious 
work.  But  the  furious  outrages  of  the  iconoclasts  had  done 
infinite  mischief  to  both  political  and  religious  freedom; 
many  of  the  Catholics,  and  particularly  the  priests,  grad- 
ually withdrew  themselves  from  the  confederacy,  which 
thus  lost  some  of  its  most  firm  supporters.  And,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  severity  with  which  some  of  its  members 
pursued  the  guilty  offended  and  alarmed  the  body  of  the 
people,  who  could  not  distinguish  the  shades  of  difference 
between  the  love  of  liberty  and  the  practice  of  licentiousness. 

The  stadtholderess  and  her  satellites  adroitly  took  advan- 
tage of  this  state  of  things  to  sow  dissension  among  the  pa- 
triots. Autograph  letters  from  Philip  to  the  principal  lords 
were  distributed  among  them  with  such  artful  and  myste- 


138  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

nous  precautions  as  to  throw  the  rest  into  perplexity,  and 
give  each  suspicions  of  the  other's  fidelity.  The  report  of 
the  immediate  arrival  of  Philip  had  also  considerable  effect 
over  the  less  resolute  or  more  selfish ;  and  the  confederation 
was  dissolving  rapidly  under  the  operations  of  intrigue,  self- 
interest,  and  fear.  Even  the  Count  of  Egmont  was  not 
proof  against  the  subtle  seductions  of  the  wily  monarch, 
whose  severe  yet  flattering  letters  half  frightened  and  half 
soothed  him  into  a  relapse  of  royalism.  But  with  the  Prince 
of  Orange  Philip  had  no  chance  of  success.  It  is  unques- 
tionable that,  be  his  means  of  acquiring  information  what 
they  might,  he  did  succeed  in  procuring  minute  intelligence 
of  all  that  was  going  on  in  the  king's  most  secret  council. 
He  had  from  time  to  time  procured  copies  of  the  stadthold- 
eress's  despatches ;  but  the  document  which  threw  the  most 
important  light  upon  the  real  intentions  of  Philip  was  a 
confidential  epistle  to  the  stadtholderess  from  D'Alava,  the 
Spanish  minister  at  Paris,  in  which  he  spoke  in  terms  too 
clear  to  admit  any  doubt  as  to  the  terrible  example  which 
the  king  was  resolved  to  make  among  the  patriot  lords. 
Bergen  and  Montigny  confirmed  this  by  the  accounts  they 
sent  home  from  Madrid  of  the  alteration  in  the  manner  with 
which  they  were  treated  by  Philip  and  his  courtiers;  and 
the  Prince  of  Orange  was  more  firmly  decided  in  his  opin- 
ions of  the  coming  vengeance  of  the  tyrant. 

William  summoned  his  brother  Louis,  the  Counts  Eg- 
mont, Horn,  and  Hoogstraeten,  to  a  secret  conference  at 
Termonde;  and  he  there  submitted  to  them  this  letter  of 
Alava's,  with  others  which  he  had  received  from  Spain, 
confirmatory  of  his  worst  fears.  Louis  of  Nassau  voted  for 
open  and  instant  rebellion;  William  recommended  a  cau-, 
tious  observance  of  the  projects  of  government,  not  doubt- 
ing but  a  fair  pretext  would  be  soon  given  to  justify  the 
most  vigorous  overt  acts  of  revolt;  but  Egmont  at  once 
struck  a  death-blow  to  the  energetic  project  of  one  brother, 
and  the  cautious  amendment  of  the  other,  by  declaring  his 
present  resolution  to  devote  himself  wholly  to  the  service  of 


TO    THE    ADMINISTRATION    OF    REQUESENS 

the  king,  and  on  no  inducement  whatever  to  risk  the  perils 
of  rebellion.  He  expressed  his  perfect  reliance  on  the  jus- 
tice and  the  goodness  of  Philip  when  once  he  should  see  the 
determined  loyalty  of  those  whom  he  had  hitherto  had  so 
much  reason  to  suspect ;  and  he  exhorted  the  others  to  fol- 
low his  example.  The  two  brothers  and  Count  Horn  im- 
plored him  in  their  turn  to  abandon  this  blind  reliance  on 
the  tyrant ;  but  in  vain.  His  new  and  unlooked-for  profes- 
sion of  faith  completely  paralyzed  their  plans.  He  possessed 
too  largely  the  confidence  of  both  the  soldiery  and  the  peo- 
ple to  make  it  possible  to  attempt  any  serious  measure  of 
resistance  in  which  he  would  not  take  a  part.  The  meeting 
broke  up  without  coming  to  any  decision.  All  those  who 
bore  a  part  in  it  were  expected  at  Brussels  to  attend  the 
council  of  state ;  Egmont  alone  repaired  thither.  The  stadt- 
holderess  questioned  him  on  the  object  of  the  conference  at 
Termonde:  he  only  replied  by  an  indignant  glance,  at  the 
same  time  presenting  a  copy  of  Alava's  letter. 

The  stadtholderess  now  applied  her  whole  efforts  to  de- 
stroy the  union  among  the  patriot  lords.  She,  in  the  mean- 
time, ordered  levies  of  troops  to  the  amount  of  some  thou- 
sands, the  command  of  which  was  given  to  the  nobles  on 
whose  attachment  she  could  reckon.  The  most  vigorous 
measures  were  adopted.  Noircarmes,  governor  of  Hainault, 
appeared  before  Valenciennes,  which,  being  in  the  power  of 
the  Calvinists,  had  assumed  a  most  determined  attitude  of 
resistance.  He  vainly  summoned  the  place  to  submission, 
and  to  admit  a  royalist  garrison ;  and  on  receiving  an  obsti- 
nate refusal,  he  commenced  the  siege  in  form.  An  undisci- 
plined rabble  of  between  three  thousand  and  four  thousand 
Gueux,  under  the  direction  of  John  de  Soreas,  gathered  to- 
gether in  the  neighborhood  of  Lille  and  Tournay,  with  a 
show  of  attacking  these  places.  But  the  governor  of  the 
former  town  dispersed  one  party  of  them;  and  Noircarmes 
surprised  and  almost  destroyed  the  main  body — their  leader 
falling  in  the  action.  These  were  the  first  encounters  of 
the  civil  war,  which  raged  without  cessation  for  upward 


140  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

of  forty  years  in  these  devoted  countries,  and  which  is  uni- 
versally allowed  to  be  the  most  remarkable  that  ever  deso- 
lated any  isolated  portion  of  Europe.  The  space  which  we 
have  already  given  to  the  causes  which  produced  this  mem- 
orable revolution,  now  actually  commenced,  will  not  allow 
us  to  do  more  than  rapidly  sketch  the  fierce  events  that 
succeeded  each  other  with  frightful  rapidity. 

While  Valenciennes  prepared  for  a  vigorous  resistance, 
a  general  synod  of  the  Protestants  was  held  at  Antwerp, 
and  De  Brederode  undertook  an  attempt  to  see  the  stadt- 
holderess,  and  lay  before  her  the  complaints  of  this  body ; 
but  she  refused  to  admit  him  into  the  capital.  He  then 
addressed  to  her  a  remonstrance  in  writing,  in  which  he  re- 
proached her  with  her  violation  of  the  treaties,  on  the  faith 
of  which  the  confederates  had  dispersed,  and  the  majority 
of  the  Protestants  laid  down  their  arms.  He  implored  her 
to  revoke  the  new  proclamations,  by  which  she  prohibited 
them  from  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion;  and,  above 
all  things,  he  insisted  on  the  abandonment  of  the  siege  of 
Valenciennes,  and  the  disbanding  of  the  new  levies.  The 
stadtholderess's  reply  was  one  of  haughty  reproach  and  de- 
fiance. The  gauntlet  was  now  thrown  down;  no  possible 
hope  of  reconciliation  remained;  and  the  whole  country 
flew  to  arms.  A  sudden  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  royal- 
ists, under  Count  Meghem,  against  Bois-le-duc,  was  re- 
pulsed by  eight  hundred  men,  commanded  by  an  officer 
named  Bomberg,  in  the  immediate  service  of  De  Brede- 
rode, who  had  fortified  himself  in  his  garrison  town  of 
Vienen. 

The  Prince  of  Orange  maintained  at  Antwerp  an  atti- 
tude of  extreme  firmness  and  caution.  His  time  for  action 
had  not  yet  arrived ;  but  his  advice  and  protection  were  of 
infinite  importance  on  many  occasions.  John  de  Marnix, 
lord  of  Toulouse,  brother  of  Philip  de  St.  Aldegonde,  took 
possession  of  Osterweel  on  the  Scheldt,  a  quarter  of  a  league 
from  Antwerp,  and  fortified  himself  in  a  strong  position. 
But  he  was  impetuously  attacked  by  the  Count  de  Lannoyf 


TO    THE    ADMINISTRATION    OF    REQUESENS  141 

with  a  considerable  force,  and  perished,  after  a  desperate 
defence,  with  full  one  thousand  of  his  followers.  Three 
hundred  who  laid  down  their  arms  were  immediately  after 
the  action  butchered  in  cold  blood.  Antwerp  was  on  this 
occasion  saved  from  the  excesses  of  its  divided  and  furious 
citizens,  and  preserved  from  the  horrors  of  pillage,  by  the 
calmness  and  intrepidity  of  the  Prince  of  Orange.  Valen- 
ciennes at  length  capitulated  to  the  royalists,  disheartened 
by  the  defeat  and  death  of  De  Marnix,  and  terrified  by  a 
bombardment  of  thirty-six  hours.  The  governor,  two 
preachers,  and  about  forty  of  the  citizens  were  hanged 
by  the  victors,  and  the  reformed  religion  prohibited. 
Noircarmes  promptly  followed  up  his  success.  Maes- 
tricht,  Turnhout,  and  Bois-le-duc  submitted  at  his  ap- 
proach; and  the  insurgents  were  soon  driven  from  all 
the  provinces,  Holland  alone  excepted.  Brederode  fled 
to  Germany,  where  he  died  the  following  year. 

The  stadtholderess  showed,  in  her  success,  no  small 
proofs  of  decision.  She  and  her  counsellors,  acting  under 
orders  from  the  king,  were  resolved  on  embarrassing  to 
the  utmost  the  patriot  lords ;  and  a  new  oath  of  allegiance, 
to  be  proposed  to  every  functionary  of  the  state,  was  con- 
sidered as  a  certain  means  for  attaining  this  object  without 
the  violence  of  an  unmerited  dismissal.  The  terms  of  this 
oath  were  strongly  opposed  to  every  principle  of  patriotism 
and  toleration.  Count  Mansfield  was  the  first  of  the  nobles 
who  took  it.  The  duke  of  Arschot,  Counts  Meghem,  Ber- 
laimont,  and  Egmont  followed  his  example.  The  counts 
of  Horn,  Hoogstraeten,  De  Brederode,  and  others,  refused 
on  various  pretexts.  Every  artifice  and  persuasion  was 
tried  to  induce  the  Prince  of  Orange  to  subscribe  to  this 
new  test;  but  his  resolution  had  been  for  some  time  formed. 
He  saw  that  every  chance  of  constitutional  resistance  to 
tyranny  was  for  the  present  at  an  end.  The  time  for  peti- 
tioning was  gone  by.  The  confederation  was  dissolved. 
A  royalist  army  was  in  the  field ;  the  Duke  of  Alva  wa» 
notoriously  approaching  at  the  head  of  another,  more  nu- 


142  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

merous.  It  was  worse  than  useless  to  conclude  a  hollow 
convention  with  the  stadtholderess  of  mock  loyalty  on  his 
part  and  mock  confidence  on  hers.  Many  other  important 
considerations  convinced  William  that  his  only  honorable, 
safe,  and  wise  course  was  to  exile  himself  from  the  Nether- 
lands altogether,  until  more  propitious  circumstances  allowed 
of  his  acting  openly,  boldly,  and  with  effect. 

Before  he  put  this  plan  of  voluntary  banishment  into  ex- 
ecution, he  and  Egmont  had  a  parting  interview  at  the  vil- 
lage of  Willebroek,  between  Antwerp  and  Brussels.  Count 
Mansfield,  and  Berti,  secretary  to  the  stadtholderess,  were 
present  at  this  memorable  meeting.  The  details  of  what 
passed  were  reported  to  the  confederates  by  one  of  their 
party,  who  contrived  to  conceal  himself  in  the  chimney  of 
the  chamber.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  energetic  warmth 
with  which  the  two  illustrious  friends  reciprocally  endeav- 
ored to  turn  each  other  from  their  respective  line  of  con- 
duct; but  in  vain.  Egmont's  fatal  confidence  in  the  king 
was  not  to  be  shaken;  nor  was  Nassau's  penetrating  mind 
to  be  deceived  by  the  romantic  delusion  which  led  away  his 
friend.  They  separated  with  most  affectionate  expressions; 
and  Nassau  was  even  moved  to  tears.  His  parting  words 
were  to  the  following  effect:  "Confide,  then,  since  it  must 
be  so,  in  the  gratitude  of  the  king ;  but  a  painful  presenti- 
ment (God  grant  it  may  prove  a  false  one !)  tells  me  that 
you  will  serve  the  Spaniards  as  the  bridge  by  which  they 
will  enter  the  country,  and  which  they  will  destroy  as  soon 
as  they  have  passed  over  it!" 

On  the  llth  of  April,  a  few  days  after  this  conference, 
the  Prince  of  Orange  set  out  for  Germany,  with  his  three 
brothers  and  his  whole  family,  with  the  exception  of  his 
eldest  son  Philip  "William,  count  de  Beuren,  whom  he  left 
behind  a  student  in  the  University  of  Lou  vain.  He  be- 
lieved that  the  privileges  of  the  college  and  the  franchises 
of  Brabant  would  prove  a  sufficient  protection  to  the  youth ; 
and  this  appears  the  only  instance  in  which  William's  vigi- 
lant prudence  was  deceived.  The  departure  of  the  prince 


TO    THE    ADMINISTRATION   OF   REQUESENS  143 

seemed  to  remove  all  hope  of  protection  or  support  from 
the  unfortunate  Protestants,  now  left  the  prey  of  their  im- 
placable tyrant.  The  confederation  of  the  nobles  was  com- 
pletely broken  up.  The  counts  of  Hoogstraeten,  Bergen, 
and  Culembourg  followed  the  example  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  and  escaped  to  Germany;  and  the  greater  num- 
ber of  those  who  remained  behind  took  the  new  oath  of 
allegiance,  and  became  reconciled  to  the  government. 

This  total  dispersion  of  the  confederacy  brought  all  the 
towns  of  Holland  into  obedience  to  the  king.  But  the  emi- 
gration which  immediately  commenced  threatened  the  coun- 
try with  ruin.  England  and  Germany  swarmed  with  Dutch 
and  Belgian  refugees;  and  all  the  efforts  of  the  stadthold- 
eress  could  not  restrain  the  thousands  that  took  to  flight. 
She  was  not  more  successful  in  her  attempts  to  influence 
the  measures  of  the  king.  She  implored  him,  in  repeated 
letters,  to  abandon  his  design  of  sending  a  foreign  army 
into  the  country,  which  she  represented  as  being  now  quite 
reduced  to  submission  and  tranquillity.  She  added  that 
the  mere  report  of  this  royal  invasion  (so  to  call  it)  had 
already  deprived  the  Netherlands  of  many  thousands  of  its 
best  inhabitants;  and  that  the  appearance  of  the  troops 
would  change  it  into  a  desert.  These  arguments,  meant 
to  dissuade,  were  the  very  means  of  encouraging  Philip  in 
his  design.  He  conceived  his  project  to  be  now  ripe  for  the 
complete  suppression  of  freedom ;  and  Alva  soon  began  his 
march. 

On  the  5th  of  May,  1567,,  this  celebrated  captain,  whose 
reputation  was  so  quickly  destined  to  sink  into  the  notoriety 
of  an  executioner,  began  his  memorable  march ;  and  on  the 
22d  of  August  he,  with  his  two  natural  sons,  and  his  vet- 
eran army  consisting  of  about  fifteen  thousand  men,  arrived 
at  the  walls  of  Brussels.  The  discipline  observed  on  this 
march  was  a  terrible  forewarning  to  the  people  of  the  Neth- 
erlands of  the  influence  of  the  general  and  the  obedience  of 
the  troops.  They  had  little  chance  of  resistance  against  such' 
soldiers  so  commanded. 


144  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

Several  of  the  Belgian  nobility  went  forward  to  meet 
Alva,  to  render  him  the  accustomed  honors,  and  endeavor 
thus  early  to  gain  his  good  graces.  Among  them  was  the 
infatuated  Egmont,  who  made  a  present  to  Alva  of  two 
superb  horses,  which  the  latter  received  with  a  disdainful 
air  of  condescension.  Alva's  first  care  was  the  distribution 
of  his  troops — several  thousands  of  whom  were  placed  in 
Antwerp,  Ghent,  and  other  important  towns,  and  the  re- 
mainder reserved  under  his  own  immediate  orders  at  Brus- 
sels. His  approach  was  celebrated  by  universal  terror;  and 
his  arrival  was  thoroughly  humiliating  to  the  duchess  of 
Parma.  He  immediately  produced  his  commission  as  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  royal  armies  in  the  Netherlands ;  but 
he  next  showed  her  another,  which  confided  to  him  powers 
infinitely  more  extended  than  any  Marguerite  herself  had 
enjoyed,  and  which  proved  to  her  that  the  almost  sovereign 
power  over  the  country  was  virtually  vested  in  him. 

Alva  first  turned  his  attention  to  the  seizure  of  those 
patriot  lords  whose  pertinacious  infatuation  left  them  with- 
in his  reach.  He  summoned  a  meeting  of  all  the  members 
of  the  council  of  state  and  the  knights  of  the  .order  of  the 
Golden  Fleece,  to  deliberate  on  matters  of  great  importance. 
Counts  Egmont  and  Horn  attended,  among  many  others; 
and  at  the  conclusion  of  the  council  they  were  both  arrested 
(some  historians  assert  by  the  hands  of  Alva  and  his  eldest 
son),  as  was  also  Van  Straeten,  burgomaster  of  Antwerp, 
and  Casambrot,  Egmont's  secretary.  The  young  count  of 
Mansfield  appeared  for  a  moment  at  this  meeting;  but, 
warned  by  his  father  of  the  fate  intended  him,  as  an  orig- 
inal member  of  the  confederation,  he  had  time  to  fly.  The 
count  of  Hoogstraeten  was  happily  detained  by  illness,  and 
thus  escaped  the  fate  of  his  friends.  Egmont  and  Horn 
were  transferred  to  the  citadel  of  Ghent,  under  an  escort 
of  three  thousand  Spanish  soldiers.  Several  other  persons 
of  the  first  families  were  arrested ;  and  those  who  had  orig- 
inally been  taken  in  arms  were  executed  without  delay. 

The  next  measures  of  the  new  governor  were  the  re- 


TO    THE    ADMINISTRATION   OF   REQUESENS  145 

establishment  of  the  Inquisition,  the  promulgation  of  the 
decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  the  revocation  of  the  duch- 
ess of  Parma's  edicts,  and  the  royal  refusal  to  recognize  the 
terms  of  her  treaties  with  the  Protestants.  He  immediately 
established  a  special  tribunal,  composed  of  twelve  members, 
with  full  powers  to  inquire  into  and  pronounce  judgment  on 
every  circumstance  connected  with  the  late  troubles.  He 
named  himself  president  of  this  council,  and  appointed  a 
Spaniard,  named  Vargas,  as  vice-president — a  wretch  of 
the  most  diabolical  cruelty.  Several  others  of  the  judges 
were  also  Spaniards,  in  direct  infraction  of  the  fundamental 
laws  of  the  country.  This  council,  immortalized  by  its  in- 
famy, was  named  by  the  new  governor  (for  so  Alva  was  in 
fact,  though  not  yet  in  name),  the  Council  of  Troubles.  By 
the  people  it  was  soon  designed  the  Council  of  Blood.  In 
its  atrocious  proceedings  no  respect  was  paid  to  titles,  con- 
tracts, or  privileges,  however  sacred.  Its  judgments  were 
without  appeal.  Every  subject  of  the  state  was  amenable 
to  its  summons ;  clergy  and  laity,  the  first  individuals  of  the 
country,  as  well  as  the  most  wretched  outcasts  of  society. 
Its  decrees  were  passed  with  disgusting  rapidity  and  con- 
tempt of  form.  Contumacy  was  punished  with  exile  and 
confiscation.  Those  who,  strong  in  innocence,  dared  to 
brave  a  trial  were  lost  without  resource.  The  accused 
were  forced  to  its  bar  without  previous  warning.  Many 
a  wealthy  citizen  was  dragged  to  trial  four  leagues'  dis- 
tance, tied  to  a  horse's  tail.  The  number  of  victims  was 
appalling.  On  one  occasion,  the  town  of  Valenciennes  alone 
saw  fifty-five  of  its  citizens  fall  by  the  hands  of  the  execu- 
tioner. Hanging,  beheading,  quartering  and  burning  were 
the  every-day  spectacles.  The  enormous  confiscations  only 
added  to  the  thirst  for  gold  and  blood  by  which  Alva  and 
his  satellites  were  parched.  History  offers  no  example  of 
parallel  horrors;  for  while  party  vengeance  on  other  occa- 
sions has  led  to  scenes  of  fury  and  terror,  they  arose,  in  this 
instance,  from  the  vilest  cupidity  and  the  most  cold-blooded 
cruelty. 
Holland.— 7 


146  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

After  three  months  of  such  atrocity,  Alva,  fatigued 
rather  than  satiated  with  butchery,  resigned  his  hateful 
functions  wholly  into  the  hands  of  Vargas,  who  was  chiefly 
aided  by  the  members  Delrio  and  Dela  Torre.  Even  at  this 
remote  period  we  cannot  repress  the  indignation  excited  by 
the  mention  of  those  monsters,  and  it  is  impossible  not  to 
feel  satisfaction  in  fixing  upon  their  names  the  brand  of 
historic  execration.  One  of  these  wretches,  called  Hesselts, 
used  at  length  to  sleep  during  the  mock  trials  of  the  already 
doomed  victims;  and  as  often  as  he  was  roused  up  by  his 
colleagues,  he  used  to  cry  out  mechanically,  "To  the  gibbet! 
to  the  gibbet!"  so  familiar  was  his  tongue  with  the  sounds 
of  condemnation. 

The  despair  of  the  people  may  be  imagined  from  the 
fact  that,  until  the  end  of  the  year  1567,  their  only  consola- 
tion was  the  prospect  of  the  king's  arrival!  He  never 
dreamed  of  coming.  Even  the  delight  of  feasting  in  hor- 
rors like  these  could  not  conquer  his  indolence.  The  good 
duchess  of  Parma — for  so  she  was  in  comparison  with  her 
successor — was  not  long  left  to  oppose  the  feeble  barrier  of 
her  prayers  between  Alva  and  his  victims.  She  demanded 
her  dismissal  from  the  nominal  dignity,  which  was  now  but 
a  title  of  disgrace.  Philip  granted  it  readily,  accompanied 
by  a  hypocritical  letter,  a  present  of  thirty  thousand  crowns, 
and  the  promise  of  an  annual  pension  of  twenty  thousand 
more.  She  left  Brussels  in  the  month  of  April,  1568,  raised 
to  a  high  place  in  the  esteem  and  gratitude  of  the  people, 
less  by  any  actual  claims  from  her  own  conduct  than  by  its 
fortuitous  contrast  with  the  infamy  of  her  successor.  She 
retired  to  Italy,  and  died  at  Naples  in  the  month  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1586. 

Ferdinand  Alvarez  de  Toledo,  duke  of  Alva,  was  of  a 
distinguished  family  in  Spain,  and  even  boasted  of  his  de- 
scent from  one  of  the  Moorish  monarchs  who  had  reigned 
in  the  insignificant  kingdom  of  Toledo.  "When  he  assumed 
the  chief  command  in  the  Netherlands,  he  was  sixty  years 
of  age ;  having  grown  old  and  obdurate  in  pride,  ferocity, 


TO    THE    ADMINISTRATION    OF   REQUESENS  147 

and  avarice.  His  deeds  must  stand  instead  of  a  more  de- 
tailed portrait,  which,  to  be  thoroughly  striking,  should  be 
traced  with  a  pen  dipped  in  blood.  He  was  a  fierce  and 
clever  soldier,  brought  up  in  the  school  of  Charles  V.,  and 
trained  to  his  profession  in  the  wars  of  that  monarch  in 
Germany,  and  subsequently  in  that  of  Philip  II.  against 
France.  In  addition  to  the  horrors  acted  by  the  Council  oi 
Blood,  Alva  committed  many  deeds  of  collateral  but  minor 
tyranny ;  among  others,  he  issued  a  decree  forbidding,  under 
severe  penalties,  any  inhabitant  of  the  country  to  marry 
without  his  express  permission.  His  furious  edicts  against 
emigration  were  attempted  to  be  enforced  in  vain.  Eliza- 
beth of  England  opened  all  the  ports  of  her  kingdom  to  the 
Flemish  refugees,  who  carried  with  them  those  abundant 
stores  of  manufacturing  knowledge  which  she  wisely  knew 
to  be  the  elements  of  national  wealth. 

Alva  soon  summoned  the  Prince  of  Orange,  his  brothers, 
and  all  the  confederate  lords,  to  appear  before  the  council 
and  answer  to  the  charge  of  high  treason.  The  prince  gave 
a  prompt  and  contemptuous  answer,  denying  the  authority 
of  Alva  and  his  council,  and  acknowledging  for  his  judges 
only  the  emperor,  whose  vassal  he  was,  or  the  king  of  Spain 
in  person,  as  president  of  the  order  of  the  Golden  Fleece. 
The  other  lords  made  replies  nearly  similar.  The  trials  of 
each  were,  therefore,  proceeded  on,  by  contumacy;  con- 
fiscation of  property  being  an  object  almost  as  dear  to  the 
tyrant  viceroy  as  the  death  of  his  victims.  Judgments 
were  promptly  pronounced  against  those  present  or  absent, 
alive  or  dead.  "Witness  the  case  of  the  unfortunate  mar- 
quess of  Bergues,  who  had  previously  expired  at  Madrid, 
as  was  universally  believed,  by  poison;  and  his  equally  ill- 
fated  colleague  in  the  embassy,  the  Baron  Montigny,  was 
for  a  while  imprisoned  at  Segovia,  where  he  was  soon  after 
secretly  beheaded,  on  the  base  pretext  of  former  disaffection. 

The  departure  of  the  duchess  of  Parma  having  left  Alva 
undisputed  as  well  as  unlimited  authority,  he  proceeded  rap- 
idly in  his  terrible  career.  The  count  of  Beuren  was  seized 


148  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

at  Louvain,  and  sent  prisoner  to  Madrid;  and  wherever  it 
was  possible  to  lay  hands  on  a  suspected  patriot,  the  occa- 
sion was  not  neglected.  It  would  be  a  revolting  task  to 
enter  into  a  minute  detail  of  all  the  horrors  committed,  and 
impossible  to  record  the  names  of  the  victims  who  so  quickly 
fell  before  Alva's  insatiate  cruelty.  The  people  were  driven 
to  frenzy.  Bands  of  wretches  fled  to  the  woods  and 
marshes;  whence,  half  famished  and  perishing  for  want, 
they  revenged  themselves  with  pillage  and  murder.  Pirates 
infested  and  ravaged  the  coast;  and  thus,  from  both  sea 
and  land,  the  whole  extent  of  the  Netherlands  was  devoted 
to  carnage  and  ruin.  The  chronicles  of  Brabant  and  Hol- 
land, chiefly  written  in  Flemish  by  contemporary  authors, 
abound  in  thrilling  details  of  the  horrors  of  this  general  des- 
olation, with  long  lists  of  those  who  perished.  Suffice  it  to 
say,  that,  on  the  recorded  boast  of  Alva  himself,  he  caused 
eighteen  thousand  inhabitants  of  the  Low  Countries  to  per- 
ish by  the  hands  of  the  executioner,  during  his  less  than  six 
years'  sovereignty  in  the  Netherlands. 

The  most  important  of  these  tragical  scenes  was  now 
soon  to  be  acted.  The  Counts  Egmont  and  Horn,  having 
submitted  to  some  previous  interrogatories  by  Vargas  and 
others,  were  removed  from  Ghent  to  Brussels,  on  the  3d  of 
June,  under  a  strong  escort.  The  following  day  they  passed 
through  the  mockery  of  a  trial  before  the  Council  of  Blood ; 
and  on  the  5th  they  were  both  beheaded  in  the  great  square 
of  Brussels,  in  the  presence  of  Alva,  who  gloated  on  the 
spectacle  from  a  balcony  that  commanded  the  execution. 
The  same  day  Van  Straeten  and  Casambrot  shared  the  fate 
of  their  illustrious  friends,  in  the  castle  of  Vilvorde;  with 
many  others  whose  names  only  find  a  place  in  the  local 
chronicles  of  the  times.  Egmont  and  Horn  met  their  fate 
with  the  firmness  expected  from  their  well-proved  courage. 

These  judicial  murders  excited  in  the  Netherlands  an 
agitation  without  bounds.  It  was  no  longer  hatred  or  aver- 
sion that  filled  men's  minds,  but  fury  and  despair.  The 
outbursting  of  a  general  revolt  was  hourly  watched  for. 


TO    THE    ADMINISTRATION    OF   REQUESENS  149 

The  foreign  powers,  without  exception,  expressed  their  dis- 
approval of  these  executions.  The  emperor  Maximilian  II., 
and  all  the  Catholic  princes,  condemned  them.  The  former 
sent  his  brother  expressly  to  the  king  of  Spain,  to  warn  him 
that  without  a  cessation  of  his  cruelties  he  could  not  re- 
strain a  general  declaration  from  the  members  of  the  em- 
pire, which  would,  in  all  likelihood,  deprive  him  of  every 
acre  of  land  in  the  Netherlands.  The  princes  of  the  Prot- 
estant states  held  no  terms  in  the  expression  of  their  disgust 
and  resentment;  and  everything  seemed  now  ripe,  both  at 
home  and  abroad,  to  favor  the  enterprise  on  which  the 
Prince  of  Orange  was  determined  to  risk  his  fortune  and 
his  life.  But  his  principal  resources  were  to  be  found  in 
his  genius  and  courage,  and  in  the  heroic  devotion  partaken 
by  his  whole  family  in  the  cause  of  their  country.  His 
brother,  Count  John,  advanced  him  a  considerable  sum  of 
money;  the  Flemings  and  Hollanders,  in  England  and  else- 
where, subscribed  largely;  the  prince  himself,  after  raising 
loans  in  every  possible  way  on  his  private  means,  sold  his 
jewels,  his  plate,  and  even  the  furniture  of  his  houses,  and 
threw  the  amount  into  the  common  fund. 

Two  remarkable  events  took  place  this  year  in  Spain, 
and  added  to  the  general  odium  entertained  against  Philip's 
character  throughout  Europe.  The  first  was  the  death  of  his 
son  Don  Carlos,  whose  sad  story  is  too  well  known  in  connec- 
tion with  the  annals  of  his  country  to  require  a  place  here ;  the 
other  was  the  death  of  the  queen.  Universal  opinion  assigned 
poison  as  the  cause ;  and  Charles  IX.  of  France,  her  brother, 
who  loved  her  with  great  tenderness,  seems  to  have  joined 
in  this  belief.  Astonishment  and  horror  filled  all  minds  on 
the  double  denouement  of  this  romantic  tragedy;  and  the 
enemies  of  the  tyrant  reaped  all  the  advantages  it  was  so 
well  adapted  to  produce  them. 

The  Prince  of  Orange,  having  raised  a  considerable  force 
in  Germany,  now  entered  on  the  war  with  all  the  well- 
directed  energy  by  which  he  was  characterized.  The  queen 
of  England,  the  French  Huguenots,  and  the  Protestant 


150  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

princes  of  Germany,  all  lent  him  their  aid  in  money  or  in 
men;  and  he  opened  his  first  campaign  with  great  advan- 
tage. He  formed  his  army  into  four  several  corps,  intend- 
ing to  enter  the  country  on  as  many  different  points,  and  by 
a  sudden  irruption  on  that  most  vulnerable  to  rouse  at  once 
the  hopes  and  the  co-operation  of  the  people.  His  brothers 
Louis  and  Adolphus,  at  the  head  of  one  of  these  divisions, 
penetrated  into  Friesland,  and  there  commenced  the  contest. 
The  count  of  Aremberg,  governor  of  this  province,  assisted 
by  the  Spanish  troops  under  Gonsalvo  de  Bracamonte, 
quickly  opposed  the  invaders.  They  met  on  the  24th  of 
May  near  the  abbey  of  Heiligerlee,  which  gave  its  name 
to  the  battle;  and  after  a  short  contest  the  royalists  were 
defeated  with  great  loss.  The  count  of  Aremberg  and 
Adolphus  of  Nassau  encountered  in  single  combat,  and 
fell  by  each  other's  hands.  The  victory  was  dearly  pur- 
chased by  the  loss  of  this  gallant  prince,  the  first  of  his 
illustrious  family  who  have  on  so  many  occasions,  down 
to  these  very  days,  freely  shed  their  blood  for  the  freedom 
and  happiness  of  the  country  which  may  be  so  emphatically 
called  their  own. 

Alva  immediately  hastened  to  the  scene  of  this  first 
action,  and  soon  forced  Count  Louis  to  another  at  a  place 
called  Jemminghem,  near  the  town  of  Embden,  on  the  21st 
of  July.  Their  forces  were  nearly  equal,  about  fourteen 
thousand  on  either  side ;  but  all  the  advantage  of  discipline 
and  skill  was  in  favor  of  Alva;  and  the  consequence  was, 
the  total  rout  of  the  patriots  with  a  considerable  loss  in 
killed  and  the  whole  of  the  cannon  and  baggage.  The  en- 
tire province  of  Friesland  was  thus  again  reduced  to  obedi- 
ence, and  Alva  hastened  back  to  Brabant  to  make  head 
against  the  Prince  of  Orange.  The  latter  had  now  under 
his  command  an  army  of  twenty-eight  thousand  men — an 
imposing  force  in  point  of  numbers,  being  double  that  which 
his  rival  was  able  oo  muster.  He  soon  made  himself  master 
of  the  towns  of  Tongres  and  St.  Trond,  and  the  whole  prov- 
ince of  Liege  was  in  his  power.  He  advanced  boldly  against 


TO   THE    ADMINISTRATION    OF    REQUESENS  151 

Alva,  and  for  several  months  did  all  that  manoeuvring  could 
do  to  force  him  to  a  battle.  But  the  wily  veteran  knew  hia 
trade  too  well ;  he  felt  sure  that  in  time  the  prince's  force 
would  disperse  for  want  of  pay  and  supplies;  and  he  man- 
aged his  resources  so  ably  that  with  little  risk  and  scarcely 
any  loss  he  finally  succeeded  in  his  object.  In  the  month  of 
October  the  prince  found  himself  forced  to  disband  his  large 
but  undisciplined  force;  and  he  retired  into  France  to  re- 
cruit his  funds  and  consider  on  the  best  measures  for  some 
future  enterprise. 

The  insolent  triumph  of  Alva  knew  no  bounds.  The  rest 
of  the  year  was  consumed  in  new  executions.  The  hotel  of 
Culembourg,  the  early  cradle  of  De  Brederode's  confeder- 
acy, was  razed  to  the  ground,  and  a  pillar  erected  on  the 
spot  commemorative  of  the  deed;  while  Alva,  resolved  to 
erect  a  monument  of  his  success  as  well  as  of  his  hate,  had 
his  own  statue  in  brass,  formed  of  the  cannons  taken  at 
Jemminghem,  set  up  in  the  citadel  of  Antwerp,  with 
various  symbols  of  power  and  an  inscription  of  inflate^ 
pride. 

The  following  year  was  ushered  in  by  a  demand  of  un» 
wonted  and  extravagant  rapacity ;  the  establishment  of  two 
taxes  on  property,  personal  and  real,  to  the  amount  of  the 
hundredth  penny  (or  denier)  on  each  kind;  and  at  every 
transfer  or  sale  ten  per  cent  on  personal  and  five  per  cent 
for  real  property.  The  states-general,  of  whom  this  demand 
was  made,  were  unanimous  in  their  opposition,  as  well  as 
the  ministers;  but  particularly  De  Berlaimont  and  Viglius. 
Alva  was  so  irritated  that  he  even  menaced  the  venerable 
president  of  the  council,  but  could  not  succeed  in  intimidat- 
ing him.  He  obstinately  persisted  in  his  design  for  a  con- 
siderable period;  resisting  arguments  and  prayers,  and  even 
the  more  likely  means  tried  for  softening  his  cupidity,  by 
furnishing  him  with  sums  from  other  sources  equivalent  to 
those  which  the  new  taxes  were  calculated  to  produce.  To 
his  repeated  threats  against  Viglius  the  latter  replied,  that 
"he  was  convinced  the  king  would  not  condemn  him  un- 


153  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

heard;  but  that  at  any  rate  his  gray  hairs  saved  him  from 
any  ignoble  fear  of  death." 

A  deputation  was  sent  from  the  states-general  to  Philip 
explaining  the  impossibility  of  persevering  in  the  attempted 
taxes,  which  were  incompatible  with  every  principle  of  com- 
mercial liberty.  But  Alva  would  not  abandon  his  design  till 
he  had  forced  every  province  into  resistance,  and  the  king 
himself  commanded  him  to  desist.  The  events  of  this  and 
the  following  year,  1570,  may  be  shortly  summed  up;  none 
of  any  striking  interest  or  eventual  importance  having  oc- 
curred. The  sufferings  of  the  country  were  increasing  from 
day  to  day  under  the  intolerable  tyranny  which  bore  it 
down.  The  patriots  attempted  nothing  on  land;  but  their 
naval  force  began  from  this  time  to  acquire  that  consistency 
and  power  which  was  so  soon  to  render  it  the  chief  means  of 
resistance  and  the  great  source  of  wealth.  The  privateers 
or  corsairs,  which  began  to  swarm  from  every  port  in  Hol- 
land and  Zealand,  and  which  found  refuge  in  all  those  of 
England,  sullied  many  gallant  exploits  by  instances  of  cul- 
pable excess;  so  much  so  that  the  Prince  of  Orange  was 
forced  to  withdraw  the  command  which  he  had  delegated 
to  the  lord  of  Dolhain,  and  to  replace  him  by  Gislain  de 
Fiennes :  for  already  several  of  the  exiled  nobles  and  ruined 
merchants  of  Antwerp  and  Amsterdam  had  joined  these 
bold  adventurers ;  and  purchased  or  built,  with  the  remnant 
of  their  fortunes,  many  vessels,  in  which  they  carried  on  a 
most  productive  warfare  against  Spanish  commerce  through 
the  whole  extent  of  the  English  Channel,  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Embs  to  the  harbor  of  La  Rochelle. 

One  of  those  frightful  inundations  to  which  the  northern 
provinces  were  so  constantly  exposed  occurred  this  year, 
carrying  away  the  dikes,  and  destroying  lives  and  property 
to  a  considerable  amount.  In  Friesland  alone  twenty  thou- 
sand men  were  victims  to  this  calamity.  But  no  suffering 
could  affect  the  inflexible  sternness  of  the  duke  of  Alva; 
and  to  such  excess  did  he  carry  his  persecution  that  Philip 
himself  began  to  be  discontented,  and  thought  his  repre- 


TO    THE    ADMINISTRATION    OF    REQUESENS  153 

sentative  was  overstepping  the  bounds  of  delegated  tyranny. 
He  even  reproached  him  sharply  in  some  of  his  despatches. 
The  governor  replied  in  the  same  strain ;  and  such  was  the 
effect  of  this  correspondence  that  Philip  resolved  to  remove 
him  from  his  command.  But  the  king's  marriage  with 
Anne  of  Austria,  daughter  of  the  emperor  Maximilian, 
obliged  him  to  defer  his  intentions  for  a  while ;  and  he  at 
length  named  John  de  la  Cerda,  duke  of  Medina-Celi,  for 
Alva's  successor.  Upward  of  a  year,  however,  elapsed  be- 
fore this  new  governor  was  finally  appointed ;  and  he  made 
his  appearance  on  the  coast  of  Flanders  with  a  considerable 
fleet,  on  the  llth  of  May,  1572.  He  was  afforded  on  this 
very  day  a  specimen  of  the  sort  of  people  he  came  to  con- 
tend with;  for  his  fleet  was  suddenly  attacked  by  that  of 
the  patriots,  and  many  of  his  vessels  burned  and  taken  be- 
fore his  eyes,  with  their  rich  cargoes  and  considerable  treas- 
ures intended  for  the  service  of  the  state. 

The  duke  of  Medina-Celi  proceeded  rapidly  to  Brussels, 
where  he  was  ceremoniously  received  by  Alva,  who,  how- 
ever, refused  to  resign  the  government,  under  the  pretext 
that  the  term  of  his  appointment  had  not  expired,  and  that 
he  was  resolved  first  to  completely  suppress  all  symptoms  of 
revolt  in  the  northern  provinces.  He  succeeded  in  effect- 
ually disgusting  La  Cerda,  who  almost  immediately  de- 
manded and  obtained  his  own  recall  to  Spain.  Alva,  left 
once  more  in  undisputed  possession  of  his  power,  turned  it 
with  increased  vigor  into  new  channels  of  oppression.  He 
was  soon  again  employed  in  efforts  to  effect  the  levying  of 
his  favorite  taxes;  and  such  was  the  resolution  of  the  trades- 
men of  Brussels,  that,  sooner  than  submit,  they  almost  uni- 
versally closed  their  shops  altogether.  Alva,  furious  at  this 
measure,  caused  sixty  of  the  citizens  to  be  seized,  and  or- 
dered them  to  be  hanged  opposite  their  own  doors.  The 
gibbets  were  actually  erected,  when,  on  the  very  morning 
of  the  day  fixed  for  the  executions,  he  received  despatches 
that  wholly  disconcerted  him  and  stopped  their  completion. 

To  avoid  an  open  rupture  with  Spain,  the  queen  of  Eng- 


154  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

land  had  just  at  this  time  interdicted  the  Dutch  and  Flemish 
privateers  from  taking  shelter  in  her  ports.  William  de  la 
Marck,  count  of  Lunoy,  had  now  the  chief  command  of  this 
adventurous  force.  He  was  distinguished  by  an  inveterate 
hatred  against  the  Spaniards,  and  had  made  a  wild  and 
romantic  vow  never  to  cut  his  hair  or  beard  till  he  had 
avenged  the  murders  of  Egmont  and  Horn.  He  was  im- 
petuous and  terrible  in  all  his  actions,  and  bore  the  surname 
of  "the  wild  boar  of  the  Ardennes."  Driven  out  of  the 
harbors  of  England,  he  resolved  on  some  desperate  enter- 
prise; and  on  the  1st  of  April  he  succeeded  in  surprising  the 
little  town  of  Brille,  in  the  island  of  Voorn,  situate  between 
Zealand  and  Holland.  This  insignificant  place  acquired 
great  celebrity  from  this  event,  which  may  be  considered  the 
first  successful  step  toward  the  establishment  of  liberty  and 
the  republic. 

Alva  was  confounded  by  the  news  of  this  exploit,  but 
with  his  usual  activity  he  immediately  turned  his  whole 
attention  toward  the  point  of  greatest  danger.  His  embar- 
rassment, however,  became  every  day  more  considerable. 
Lunoy's  success  was  the  signal  of  a  general  revolt.  In  a 
few  days  every  town  in  Holland  and  Zealand  declared  for 
liberty,  with  the  exception  of  Amsterdam  and  Middleburg, 
where  the  Spanish  garrisons  were  too  strong  for  the  people 
to  attempt  their  expulsion. 

The  Prince  of  Orange,  who  had  been  on  the  watch  for 
a  favorable  moment,  now  entered  Brabant  at  the  head  of 
twenty  thousand  men,  composed  of  French,  German,  and 
English,  and  made  himself  master  of  several  important 
places ;  while  his  indefatigable  brother  Louis,  with  a  minor 
force,  suddenly  appeared  in  Hainault,  and,  joined  by  a  large 
body  of  French  Huguenots  under  De  Genlis,  he  seized  on 
Mons,  the  capital  of  the  province,  on  the  25th  of  May. 

Alva  turned  first  toward  the  recovery  of  this  important 
place,  and  gave  the  command  of  the  siege  to  his  son 
Frederic  of  Toledo,  who  was  assisted  by  the  counsels  of 
Noircarmes  and  Vitelli;  but  Louis  of  Nassau  held  out  for 


TO   THE  ADMINISTRATION   OF   REQTJESENS  155 

upward  of  three  months,  and  only  surrendered  on  an  hon- 
orable capitulation  in  the  month  of  September;  his  French 
allies  having  been  first  entirely  defeated,  and  their  brave 
leader  De  Genlis  taken  prisoner.  The  Prince  of  Orange 
had  in  the  meantime  secured  possession  of  Louvain,  Rure- 
monde,  Mechlin,  and  other  towns,  carried  Termonde  and 
Oudenarde  by  assault,  and  made  demonstrations  which 
seemed  to  court  Alva  once  more  to  try  the  fortune  of  the 
campaign  in  a  pitched  battle.  But  such  were  not  "William's 
real  intentions,  nor  did  the  cautious  tactics  of  his  able  oppo- 
nent allow  him  to  provoke  such  a  risk.  He,  however,  or- 
dered his  son  Frederic  to  march  with  all  his  force  into  Hol- 
land, and  he  soon  undertook  the  siege  of  Haerlem.  By  the 
time  that  Mons  fell  again  into  the  power  of  the  Spaniards, 
sixty-five  towns  and  their  territories,  chiefly  in  the  northern 
provinces,  had  thrown  off  the  yoke.  The  single  port  of  Fles- 
singue  contained  one  hundred  and  fifty  patriot  vessels,  well 
armed  and  equipped ;  and  from  that  epoch  may  be  dated  the 
rapid  growth  of  the  first  naval  power  in  Europe,  with  the 
single  exception  of  Great  Britain. 

It  is  here  worthy  of  remark,  that  all  the  horrors  of  which 
the  people  of  Flanders  were  the  victims,  and  in  their  full 
proportion,  had  not  the  effect  of  exciting  them  to  revolt; 
but  they  rose  up  with  fury  against  the  payment  of  the  new 
taxes.  They  sacrificed  everything  sooner  than  pay  these 
unjust  exactions — Omnia  dabant,  ne  decimam  darant. 
The  next  important  event  in  these  wars  was  the  siege  of 
Haerlem,  before  which  place  the  Spaniards  were  arrested 
in  their  progress  for  seven  months,  and  which  they  at 
length  succeeded  in  taking  with  a  loss  of  ten  thousand 
men. 

The  details  of  this  memorable  siege  are  calculated  to 
arouse  every  feeling  of  pity  for  the  heroic  defenders,  and  of 
execration  against  the  cruel  assailants.  A  widow,  named 
Kenau  Hasselaer,  gained  a  niche  in  history  by  her  remark- 
able valor  at  the  head  of  a  battalion  of  three  hundred  of  her 
townswomen,  who  bore  a  part  in  all  the  labors  and  perils 


156  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

of  the  siege.  After  the  surrender,  and  in  pursuance  of 
Alva's  common  system,  his  ferocious  son  caused  the  gov- 
ernor and  the  other  chief  officers  to  be  beheaded;  and 
upward  of  two  thousand  of  the  worn-out  garrison  and 
burghers  were  either  put  to  the  sword,  or  tied  two  and  two 
and  drowned  in  the  lake  which  gives  its  name  to  the  town. 
Tergoes  in  South  Beveland,  Mechlin,  Naerden,  and  other 
towns,  were  about  the  same  period  the  scenes  of  gallant 
actions,  and  of  subsequent  cruelties  of  the  most  revolting 
nature  as  soon  as  they  fell  into  the  power  of  the  Spaniards. 
Strada,  with  all  his  bigotry  to  the  Spanish  cause,  admits 
that  these  excesses  were  atrocious  crimes  rather  than  just 
punishments :  non  poena,  sed  flagitium.  Horrors  like  these 
were  sure  to  force  reprisals  on  the  part  of  the  maddened 
patriots.  De  la  Marck  carried  on  his  daring  exploits  with 
a  cruelty  which  excited  the  indignation  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  by  whom  he  was  removed  from  his  command. 
The  contest  was  for  a  while  prosecuted  with  a  decrease 
of  vigor  proportioned  to  the  serious  losses  on  both  sides; 
money  and  the  munitions  of  war  began  to  fail;  and  thorgh 
the  Spaniards  succeeded  in  taking  The  Hague,  they  were  re- 
pulsed before  Alkmaer  with  great  loss,  and  their  fleet  was 
almost  entirely  destroyed  in  a  naval  combat  on  the  Zuyder 
Zee.  The  count  Bossu,  their  admiral,  was  taken  in  this 
fight,  with  about  three  hundred  of  his  best  sailors. 

Holland  was  now  from  one  end  to  the  other  the  theatre 
of  the  most  shocking  events.  While  the  people  performed 
deeds  of  the  greatest  heroism,  the  perfidy  and  cruelty  of 
the  Spaniards  had  no  bounds.  The  patriots  saw  more  dan- 
ger in  submission  than  in  resistance ;  each  town,  which  was 
in  succession  subdued,  endured  the  last  extremities  of  suf- 
fering before  it  yielded,  and  victory  was  frequently  the 
consequence  of  despair.  This  unlooked-for  turn  in  affairs 
decided  the  king  to  remove  Alva,  whose  barbarous  and  ra- 
pacious conduct  was  now  objected  to  even  by  Philip,  when 
it  produced  results  disastrous  to  his  cause.  Don  Luis  Zanega 
y  Requesens,  commander  of  the  order  of  Malta,  was  named 


TO    THE    ADMINISTRATION    OF   REQTJESENS  157 

to  the  government  of  the  Netherlands.  He  arrived  at  Brus- 
sels on  the  17th  of  November,  1573;  and  on  the  18th  of  the 
following  month,  the  monster  whom  he  succeeded  set  out 
for  Spain,  loaded  with  the  booty  to  which  he  had  waded 
through  oceans  of  blood,  and  with  the  curses  of  the  coun- 
try, which,  however,  owed  its  subsequent  freedom  to  the 
impulse  given  by  his  intolerable  cruelty.  He  repaired  to 
Spain ;  and  after  various  fluctuations  of  favor  and  disgrace 
at  the  hands  of  his  congenial  master,  he  died  in  his  bed, 
at  Lisbon,  in  1582,  at  the  advanced  age  of  seventy-four 
years. 


CHAPTER  X 

TO  THE  PACIFICATION  OF  GHENT 
A.D.   1573-1576 

THE  character  of  Requesens  was  not  more  opposed  to 
that  of  his  predecessor,  than  were  the  instructions 
given  to  him  for  his  government.     He  was  an  hon- 
9st,  well-meaning,  and  moderate  man,  and  the  king  of  Spain 
hoped  that  by  his  influence  and  a  total  change  of  measures 
he  might  succeed  in  recalling  the  Netherlands  to  obedience. 
But,  happily  for  the  country,  this  change  was  adopted  too 
late  for  success;  and  the  weakness  of  the  new  government 
completed  the  glorious  results  which   the   ferocity  of  the 
former  had  prepared. 

Requesens  performed  all  that  depended  on  him,  to  gain 
the  confidence  of  the  people.  He  caused  Alva's  statue  to  be 
removed ;  and  hoped  to  efface  the  memory  of  the  tyrant  by 
dissolving  the  Council  of  Blood  and  abandoning  the  obnoxious 
taxes  which  their  inventor  had  suspended  rather  than  abol- 
ished. A  general  amnesty  was  also  promulgated  against 
the  revolted  provinces ;  they  received  it  with  contempt  and 
defiance.  Nothing  then  was  left  to  Requesens  but  to  renew 
the  war;  and  this  he  found  to  be  a  matter  of  no  easy  execu- 
tion. The  finances  were  in  a  state  of  the  greatest  confusion ; 
and  the  Spanish  troops  were  in  many  places  seditious,  in 
some  openly  mutinous,  Alva  having  left  large  arrears  of 
pay  due  to  almost  all,  notwithstanding  the  immense  amount 
of  his  pillage  and  extortion.  Middleburg,  which  had  long 
sustained  a  siege  against  all  the  efforts  of  the  patriots,  was 
now  nearly  reduced  by  famine,  notwithstanding  the  gallant 
efforts  of  its  governor,  Mondragon.  Requesens  turned  his 
(158) 


TO    THE    PACIFICATION    OF    GHENT  159 

immediate  attention  to  the  relief  of  this  important  place; 
and  he  soon  assembled,  at  Antwerp  and  Berg-op-Zoom,  a 
fleet  of  sixty  vessels  for  that  purpose.  But  Louis  Boisot, 
admiral  of  Zealand,  promptly  repaired  to  attack  this  force; 
and  after  a  severe  action  he  totally  defeated  it,  and  killed 
De  Glimes,  one  of  its  admirals,  under  the  eyes  of  Requesens 
himself,  who,  accompanied  by  his  suite,  stood  during  the 
whole  affair  on  the  dike  of  Schakerloo.  This  action  took 
place  the  29th  of  January,  1574;  and,  on  the  19th  of  Febru- 
ary following,  Middleburg  surrendered,  after  a  resistance  of 
two  years.  The  Prince  of  Orange  granted  such  conditions 
as  were  due  to  the  bravery  of  the  goTernor;  and  thus  set  an 
example  of  generosity  and  honor  which  greatly  changed  the 
complexion  of  the  war.  All  Zealand  was  now  free ;  and  the 
intrepid  Admiral  Boisot  gained  another  victory  on  the  30th 
of  May — destroying  several  of  the  Spanish  vessels,  and  tak- 
ing some  others,  with  their  Admiral  Von  Haemstede.  Fre- 
quent naval  enterprises  were  also  undertaken  against  the 
frontiers  of  Flanders;  and  while  the  naval  forces  thus 
harassed  the  enemy  on  every  vulnerable  point,  the  unfor- 
tunate provinces  of  the  interior  were  ravaged  by  the  mu- 
tinous and  revolted  Spaniards,  and  by  the  native  brigands, 
who  pillaged  both  royalists  and  patriots  with  atrocious 
impartiality. 

To  these  manifold  evils  was  now  added  one  more  terrible, 
in  the  appearance  of  the  plague,  which  broke  out  at  Ghent 
in  the  month  of  October,  and  devastated  a  great  part  of  the 
Netherlands;  not,  however,  with  that  violence  with  which 
it  rages  in  more  southern  climates. 

Requesens,  overwhelmed  by  difficulties,  yet  exerted  him- 
self to  the  utmost  to  put  the  best  face  on  the  affairs  of  gov- 
ernment. His  chief  care  was  to  appease  the  mutinous  sol- 
diery: he  even  caused  his  plate  to  be  melted,  and  freely 
gave  the  produce  toward  the  payment  of  their  arrears.  The 
patriots,  well  informed  of  this  state  of  things,  labored  to 
turn  it  to  their  best  advantage.  They  opened  the  campaign 
in  the  province  of  Guelders,  where  Louis  of  Nassau,  with 


160  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

his  younger  brother  Henry,  and  the  prince  Palatine,  son  of 
the  elector  Frederick  III.,  appeared  at  the  head  of  eleven 
thousand  men ;  the  Prince  of  Orange  prepared  to  join  him 
with  an  equal  number;  but  Requesens  promptly  despatched 
Sanchez  d'Avila  to  prevent  this  junction.  The  Spanish  com- 
mander quickly  passed  the  Meuse  near  Nimeguen ;  and  on 
the  14th  of  April  he  forced  Count  Louis  to  a  battle,  on  the 
great  plain  called  Mookerheyde,  close  to  the  village  of  Mook. 
The  royalists  attacked  with  their  usual  valor;  and,  after 
two  hours  of  hard  fighting,  the  confederates  were  totally 
defeated.  The  three  gallant  princes  were  among  the  slain, 
and  their  bodies  were  never  afterward  discovered.  It  has 
been  stated,  on  doubtful  authority,  that  Louis  of  Nassau, 
after  having  lain  some  time  among  the  heaps  of  dead, 
dragged  himself  to  the  side  of  the  river  Meuse,  and  while 
washing  his  wounds  was  inhumanly  murdered  by  some 
straggling  peasants,  to  whom  he  was  unknown.  The  un- 
fortunate fate  of  this  enterprising  prince  was  a  severe  blow 
to  the  patriot  cause,  and  a  cruel  affliction  to  the  Prince  of 
Orange.  He  had  now  already  lost  three  brothers  in  the 
war ;  and  remained  alone,  to  revenge  their  fate  and  sustain 
the  cause  for  which  they  had  perished. 

D'Avila  soon  found  his  victory  to  be  as  fruitless  as  it 
was  brilliant.  The  ruffian  troops,  by  whom  it  was  gained, 
became  immediately  self-disbanded;  threw  off  all  authority; 
hastened  to  possess  themselves  of  Antwerp ;  and  threatened 
to  proceed  to  the  most  horrible  extremities  if  their  pay  was 
longer  withheld.  The  citizens  succeeded  with  difficulty  in 
appeasing  them,  by  the  sacrifice  of  some  money  in  part  pay- 
ment of  their  claims.  Requesens  took  advantage  of  their 
temporary  calm,  and  despatched  them  promptly  to  take  part 
in  the  siege  of  Leyden. 

This  siege  formed  another  of  those  numerous  instances 
which  became  so  memorable  from  the  mixture  of  heroism 
and  horror.  Jean  Vanderdoes,  known  in  literature  by  the 
name  of  Dousa,  and  celebrated  for  his  Latin  poems,  com- 
manded the  place.  Valdez,  who  conducted  the  siege,  urged 


TO    THE    PACIFICATION    OF    GHENT 

Dousa  to  surrender;  when  the  latter  replied,  in  the  name  of 
the  inhabitants,  "that  when  provisions  failed  them,  they 
would  devour  their  left  hands,  reserving  the  right  to  defend 
their  liberty."  A  party  of  the  inhabitants,  driven  to  dis- 
obedience and  revolt  by  the  excess  of  misery  to  which  they 
were  shortly  reduced,  attempted  to  force  the  burgomaster, 
Vanderwerf,  to  supply  them  with  bread,  or  yield  up  the 
place.  But  he  sternly  made  the  celebrated  answer,  which 
cannot  be  remembered  without  shuddering — "Bread  I  have 
none ;  but  if  my  death  can  afford  you  relief,  tear  my  body 
in  pieces,  and  let  those  who  are  most  hungry  devour  it!'* 

But  in  this  extremity  relief  at  last  was  afforded  by  the 
decisive  measures  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  who  ordered  all 
the  neighboring  dikes  to  be  opened  and  the  sluices  raised, 
thus  sweeping  away  the  besiegers  on  the  waves  of  the 
ocean :  the  inhabitants  of  Leyden  were  apprised  of  this  in- 
tention by  means  of  letters  intrusted  to  the  safe  carriage  of 
pigeons  trained  for  the  purpose.  The  inundation  was  no 
sooner  effected  than  hundreds  of  flat-bottomed  boats  brought 
abundance  of  supplies  to  the  half-famished  town;  while  a 
violent  storm  carried  the  sea  across  the  country  for  twenty 
leagues  around,  and  destroyed  the  Spanish  camp,  with 
above  one  thousand  soldiers,  who  were  overtaken  by  the 
flood.  This  deliverance  took  place  on  the  3d  of  October,  on 
which  day  it  is  still  annually  celebrated  by  the  descendants 
of  the  grateful  citizens. 

It  was  now  for  the  first  time  that  Spain  would  consent 
to  listen  to  advice  or  mediation,  which  had  for  its  object 
the  termination  of  this  frightful  war.  The  emperor  Maxi- 
milian II.  renewed  at  this  epoch  his  efforts  with  Philip; 
and  under  such  favorable  auspices  conferences  commenced 
at  Breda,  where  the  counts  Swartzenberg  and  Hohenloe, 
brothers-in-law  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  met,  on  the  part 
of  the  emperor,  the  deputies  from  the  king  of  Spain  and 
the  patriots ;  and  hopes  of  a  complete  pacification  were  gen- 
erally entertained.  But  three  months  of  deliberation  proved 
their  fallacy.  The  patriots  demanded  toleration  for  the  re- 


162  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

formed  religion.  The  king's  deputies  obstinately  refused 
it.  The  congress  was  therefore  broken  up;  and  both  op- 
pressors and  oppressed  resumed  their  arms  with  increased 
vigor  and  tenfold  desperation. 

Requesens  had  long  fixed  his  eyes  on  Zealand  as  the 
scene  of  an  expedition  by  which  he  hoped  to  repair  the 
failure  before  Leyden;  and  he  caused  an  attempt  to  be 
made  on  the  town  of  Zuriczee,  in  the  island  of  Scauwen, 
which  merits  record  as  one  of  the  boldest  and  most  original 
enterprises  of  the  war. 

The  little  islands  of  Zealand  are  separated  from  each 
other  by  narrow  branches  of  the  sea,  which  are  fordable 
at  low  water ;  and  it  was  by  such  a  passage,  two  leagues 
in  breadth,  and  till  then  untried,  that  the  Spanish  detach- 
ment of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty  men,  under 
Ulloa  and  other  veteran  captains,  advanced  to  their  exploit 
in  the  midst  of  dangers  greatly  increased  by  a  night  of  total 
darkness.  Each  man  carried  round  his  neck  two  pounds  of 
gunpowder,  with  a  sufficient  supply  of  biscuit  for  two  days ; 
and  holding  their  swords  and  muskets  high  over  their  heads, 
they  boldly  waded  forward,  three  abreast,  in  some  places  up 
to  their  shoulders  in  water.  The  alarm  was  soon  given; 
and  a  shower  of  balls  was  poured  upon  the  gallant  band, 
from  upward  of  forty  boats  which  the  Zealanders  sent 
rapidly  toward  the  spot.  The  only  light  afforded  to  either 
party  was  from  the  flashes  of  their  guns ;  and  while  the  ad- 
venturers advanced  with  undaunted  firmness,  their  equally 
daring  assailants,  jumping  from  their  boats  into  the  water, 
attacked  them  with  oars  and  hooked  handspikes,  by  which 
many  of  the  Spaniards  were  destroyed.  The  rearguard,  in 
this  extremity,  cut  off  from  their  companions,  was  obliged 
to  retreat ;  but  the  rest,  after  a  considerable  loss,  at  length 
reached  the  land,  and  thus  gained  possession  of  the  island, 
on  the  night  of  the  28th  of  September,  1575. 

Requesens  quickly  afterward  repaired  to  the  scene  of 
this  gallant  exploit,  and  commenced  the  siege  of  Zuriczee, 
which  he  did  not  live  to  see  completed.  After  having 


TO   THE    PACIFICATION    OF   GHENT  163 

passed  the  winter  months  in  preparations  for  the  success 
of  this  object  which  he  had  so  much  at  heart,  he  was  re- 
called to  Brussels  by  accounts  of  new  mutinies  in  the  Span- 
ish cavalry;  and  the  very  evening  before  he  reached  the 
city  he  was  attacked  by  a  violent  fever,  which  carried  him 
off  five  days  afterward,  on  the  5th  of  March,  1576. 

The  suddenness  of  Requesen's  illness  had  not  allowed 
time  for  even  the  nomination  of  a  successor,  to  which  he 
was  authorized  by  letters  patent  from  the  king.  It  is  be- 
lieved that  his  intention  was  to  appoint  Count  Mansfield  to 
the  command  of  the  army,  and  De  Berlaimont  to  the  ad- 
ministration of  civil  affairs.  The  government,  however, 
now  devolved  entirely  into  the  hands  of  the  council  of 
state,  which  was  at  that  period  composed  of  nine  members. 
The  principal  of  these  was  Philip  de  Croi,  duke  of  Arschot; 
the  other  leading  members  were  Viglius,  Counts  Mansfield 
and  Berlaimont ;  and  the  council  was  degraded  by  number- 
ing, among  the  rest,  Debris  and  De  Roda,  two  of  the  notori- 
ous Spaniards  who  had  formed  part  of  the  Council  of  Blood. 

The  king  resolved  to  leave  the  authority  in  the  hands  of 
this  incongruous  mixture,  until  the  arrival  of  Don  John  of 
Austria,  his  natural  brother,  whom  he  had  already  named 
to  the  office  of  governor-general.  But  in  the  interval  the 
government  assumed  an  aspect  of  unprecedented  disorder; 
and  widespread  anarchy  embraced  the  whole  country.  The 
royal  troops  openly  revolted,  and  fought  against  each  other 
like  deadly  enemies.  The  nobles,  divided  in  their  views, 
arrogated  to  themselves  in  different  places  the  titles  and 
powers  of  command.  Public  faith  and  private  probity 
seemed  alike  destroyed.  Pillage,  violence  and  ferocity  were 
the  commonplace  characteristics  of  the  times. 

Circumstances  like  these  may  be  well  supposed  to  have 
revived  the  hopes  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  who  quickly 
saw  amid  this  chaos  the  elements  of  order,  strength,  and 
liberty.  Such  had  been  his  previous  affliction  at  the  har- 
rowing events  which  he  witnessed  and  despaired  of  being 
able  to  relieve,  that  he  had  proposed  to  the  patriots  of  Hoi- 


164  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

land  and  Zealand  to  destroy  the  dikes,  submerge  the  whole 
country,  and  abandon  to  the  waves  the  soil  which  refused 
security  to  freedom.  But  Providence  destined  him  to  be 
the  savior,  instead  of  the  destroyer,  of  his  country.  The 
chief  motive  of  this  excessive  desperation  had  been  the  ap- 
parent desertion  by  Queen  Elizabeth  of  the  cause  which  she 
had  hitherto  so  mainly  assisted.  Offended  at  the  capture  of 
some  English  ships  by  the  Dutch,  who  asserted  that  they 
carried  supplies  for  the  Spaniards,  she  withdrew  from  them 
her  protection ;  but  by  timely  submission  they  appeased  her 
wrath ;  and  it  is  thought  by  some  historians  that  even  thus 
early  the  Prince  of  Orange  proposed  to  place  the  revolted 
provinces  wholly  under  her  protection.  This,  however,  she 
for  the  time  refused;  but  she  strongly  solicited  Philip's 
mercy  for  these  unfortunate  countries,  through  the  Spanish 
ambassador  at  her  court. 

In  the  meantime  the  council  of  state  at  Brussels  seemed 
disposed  to  follow  up  as  far  as  possible  the  plans  of  Re- 
quesens.  The  siege  of  Zuriczee  was  continued ;  but  speedy 
dissensions  among  the  members  of  the  government  rendered 
their  authority  contemptible,  if  not  utterly  extinct,  in  the 
eyes  of  the  people.  The  exhaustion  of  the  treasury  deprived 
them  of  all  power  to  put  an  end  to  the  mutinous  excesses  of 
the  Spanish  troops,  and  the  latter  carried  their  licentiousness 
to  the  utmost  bounds.  Zuriczee,  admitted  to  a  surrender, 
and  saved  from  pillage  by  the  payment  of  a  large  sum,  was 
lost  to  the  royalists  within  three  months,  from  the  want  of 
discipline  in  its  garrison ;  and  the  towns  and  burghs  of  Bra- 
bant suffered  as  much  from  the  excesses  of  their  nominal 
protectors  as  could  have  been  inflicted  by  the  enemy.  The 
mutineers  at  length,  to  the  number  of  some  thousands,  at- 
tacked and  carried  by  force  the  town  of  Alost,  at  equal  dis- 
tances between  Brussels,  Ghent,  and  Antwerp,  imprisoned 
the  chief  citizens,  and  levied  contributions  on  all  the  coun- 
try round.  It  was  then  that  the  council  of  state  found  itself 
forced  to  proclaim  them  rebels,  traitors,  and  enemies  to  the 
king  and  the  country,  and  called  on  all  loyal  subjects  to 


TO   THE    PACIFICATION    OF    GHENT  165 

pursue  and  exterminate  them  wherever  they  were  found  in 
arms. 

This  proscription  of  the  Spanish  mutineers  was  followed 
by  the  convocation  of  the  states-general,  and  the  govern- 
ment thus  hoped  to  maintain  some  show  of  union  and  some 
chance  of  authority.  But  a  new  scene  of  intestine  violence 
completed  the  picture  of  executive  inefficiency.  On  the  4th 
of  September,  the  grand  bailiff  of  Brabant,  as  lieutenant  of 
the  Baron  de  Hesse,  governor  of  Brussels,  entered  the  coun- 
cil chamber  by  force,  and  arrested  all  the  members  present, 
on  suspicion  of  treacherously  maintaining  intelligence  with 
the  Spaniards.  Counts  Mansfield  and  Berlaimont  were  im- 
prisoned, with  some  others.  Viglius  escaped  this  indignity 
by  being  absent  from  indisposition.  This  bold  measure  was 
hailed  by  the  people  with  unusual  joy,  as  the  signal  for  that 
total  change  in  the  government  which  they  reckoned  on  as 
the  prelude  to  complete  freedom. 

The  states-general  were  all  at  this  time  assembled,  with 
the  exception  of  those  of  Flanders,  who  joined  the  others 
with  but  little  delay.  The  general  reprobation  against  the 
Spaniards  procured  a  second  decree  of  proscription;  and 
their  desperate  conduct  justified  the  utmost  violence  with 
which  they  might  be  pursued.  They  still  held  the  citadels 
of  Ghent  and  Antwerp,  as  well  as  Maestricht,  which  they 
had  seized  on,  sacked,  and  pillaged  with  all  the  fury  which 
a  barbarous  enemy  inflicts  on  a  town  carried  by  assault. 
On  the  3d  of  November,  the  other  body  of  mutineers,  in 
possession  of  Alost,  marched  to  the  support  of  their  fellow 
brigands  in  the  citadel  of  Antwerp;  and  both,  simultane- 
ously attacking  this  magnificent  city,  became  masters  of  it 
in  all  points,  in  spite  of  a  vigorous  resistance  on  the  part 
of  the  citizens.  They  then  began  a  scene  of  rapine  and  de- 
struction unequalled  in  the  annals  of  these  desperate  wars. 
More  than  five  hundred  private  mansions  and  the  splendid 
town-house  were  delivered  to  the  flames:  seven  thousand 
citizens  perished  by  the  sword  or  in  the  waters  of  the  Scheldt. 
For  three  days  the  carnage  and  the  pillage  went  on  with  un- 


166  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

heard-of  fury ;  and  the  most  opulent  town  in  Europe  was 
thus  reduced  to  ruin  and  desolation  by  a  few  thousand  fran- 
tic ruffians.  The  loss  was  valued  at  above  two  million 
golden  crowns.  Vargas  and  Romero  were  the  principal 
leaders  of  this  infernal  exploit ;  and  De  Roda  gained  a  new 
title  to  his  immortality  of  shame  by  standing  forth  as  its 
apologist. 

The  states-general,  assembled  at  Ghent,  were  solemnly 
opened  on  the  14th  of  September.  Being  apprehensive  of  a 
sudden  attack  from  the  Spanish  troops  in  the  citadel,  they 
proposed  a  negotiation,  and  demanded  a  protecting  force 
from  the  Prince  of  Orange,  who  immediately  entered  into 
a  treaty  with  their  envoy,  and  sent  to  their  assistance  eight 
companies  of  infantry  and  seventeen  pieces  of  cannon,  un- 
der the  command  of  the  English  colonel,  Temple.  In  the 
midst  of  this  turmoil  and  apparent  insecurity,  the  states- 
general  proceeded  in  their  great  work,  and  assumed  the 
reins  of  government  in  the  name  of  the  king.  They  al- 
lowed the  council  of  state  still  nominally  to  exist,  but  they 
restricted  its  powers  far  within  those  it  had  hitherto  exer- 
cised; and  the  government,  thus  absolutely  assuming  the 
form  of  a  republic,  issued  manifestoes  in  justification  of  its 
conduct,  and  demanded  succor  from  all  the  foreign  powers. 
To  complete  the  union  between  the  various  provinces,  it  was 
resolved  to  resume  the  negotiations  commenced  the  preced- 
ing year  at  Breda;  and  the  10th  of  October  was  fixed  for 
this  new  congress  to  be  held  in  the  town-house  of  Ghent. 

On  the  day  appointed,  the  congress  opened  its  sittings; 
and  rapidly  arriving  at  the  termination  of  its  important  ob- 
ject, the  celebrated  treaty  known  by  the  title  of  "The  Paci- 
fication of  Ghent"  was  published  on  the  8th  of  November, 
to  the  sound  of  bells  and  trumpets ;  while  the  ceremony  was 
rendered  still  more  imposing  by  the  thunder  of  the  artillery 
which  battered  the  walls  of  the  besieged  citadel.  It  was 
even  intended  to  have  delivered  a  general  assault  against 
the  place  at  the  moment  of  the  proclamation ;  but  the  muti- 
neers  demanded  a  capitulation  and  finally  surrendered  three 


TO    THE    PACIFICATION    OF   GHENT  167 

days  afterward.  It  was  the  wife  of  the  famous  Mondragon 
who  commanded  the  place  in  her  husband's  absence;  and 
by  her  heroism  gave  a  new  proof  of  the  capability  of  the 
sex  to  surpass  the  limits  which  nature  seems  to  have  fixed 
for  their  conduct. 

The  Pacification  contained  twenty-five  articles.  Among 
others,  it  was  agreed : 

That  a  full  amnesty  should  be  passed  for  all  offences 
whatsoever. 

That  the  estates  of  Brabant,  Flanders,  Hainault,  Artois, 
and  others,  on  the  one  part ;  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and  the 
states  of  Holland  and  Zealand  and  their  associates,  on  the 
other;  promised  to  maintain  good  faith,  peace,  and  friend- 
ship, firm  and  inviolable ;  to  mutually  assist  each  other,  at 
all  times,  in  council  and  action;  and  to  employ  life  and 
fortune,  above  all  things,  to  expel  from  the  country  the 
Spanish  soldiers  and  other  foreigners. 

That  no  one  should  be  allowed  to  injure  or  insult,  by 
word  or  deed,  the  exercise  of  the  Catholic  religion,  on  pain 
of  being  treated  as  a  disturber  of  the  public  peace. 

That  the  edicts  against  heresy  and  the  proclamations  of 
the  duke  of  Alva  should  be  suspended. 

That  all  confiscations,  sentences,  and  judgments  rendered 
since  1566  should  be  annulled. 

That  the  inscriptions,  monuments,  and  trophies  erected 
by  the  duke  of  Alva  should  be  demolished. 

Such  were  the  general  conditions  of  the  treaty;  the  re- 
maining articles  chiefly  concerned  individual  interests.  The 
promulgation  of  this  great  charter  of  union,  which  was  con- 
sidered as  the  fundamental  law  of  the  country,  was  hailed 
in  all  parts  of  the  Netherlands  with  extravagant  demonstra- 
tions of  joy. 


CHAPTER    XI 


A.D.  1576—1580 

ON  the  very  day  of  the  sack  of  Antwerp,  Don  John 
of  Austria  arrived  at  Luxemburg.  This  ominous 
commencement  of  his  viceregal  reign  was  not  be- 
lied by  the  events  which  followed;  and  the  hero  of  Le- 
panto,  the  victor  of  the  Turks,  the  idol  of  Christendom, 
was  destined  to  have  his  reputation  and  well-won  laurels 
tarnished  in  the  service  of  the  insidious  despotism  to  which 
he  now  became  an  instrument,  Don  John  was  a  natural 
son  of  Charles  V.,  and  to  fine  talents  and  a  good  disposi- 
tion united  the  advantages  of  hereditary  courage  and  a 
liberal  education.  He  was  born  at  Ratisbon  on  the  24th 
of  February,  1543.  His  reputed  mother  was  a  young  lady 
of  that  place  named  Barbara  Blomberg ;  but  one  historian 
states  that  the  real  parent  was  of  a  condition  too  elevated 
to  have  her  rank  betrayed;  and  that,  to  conceal  the  mys- 
tery, Barbara  Blomberg  had  voluntarily  assumed  the  dis- 
tinction, or  the  dishonor,  according  to  the  different  construc- 
tions put  upon  the  case.  The  prince,  having  passed  through 
France,  disguised,  for  greater  secrecy  or  in  a  youthful  frolic, 
as  a  negro  valet  to  Prince  Octavo  Gonzaga,  entered  on  the 
limits  of  his  new  government,  and  immediately  wrote  to 
the  council  of  state  in  the  most  condescending  terms  to  an- 
nounce his  arrival. 

Nothing   could  present  a  less  promising  aspect  to  the 

prince  than  the  country  at  the  head  of  which  he  was  now 

placed.     He  found  all  its  provinces,  with  the  sole  exception 

of  Luxemburg,  in  the  anarchy  attendant  on  a  ten  years' 

(168) 


TO  THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE    169 

civil  war,  and  apparently  resolved  on  a  total  breach  of  their 
allegiance  to  Spain.  He  found  his  best,  indeed  his  only, 
course  to  be  that  of  moderation  and  management;  and  it 
is  most  probable  that  at  the  outset  his  intentions  were  really 
honorable  and  candid. 

The  states-general  were  not  less  embarrassed  than  the 
prince.  His  sudden  arrival  threw  them  into  great  perplex- 
ity, which  was  increased  by  the  conciliatory  tone  of  his  let- 
ter. They  had  now  removed  from  Ghent  to  Brussels;  and 
first  sending  deputies  to  pay  the  honors  of  a  ceremonious 
welcome  to  Don  John,  they  wrote  to  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
then  in  Holland,  for  his  advice  in  this  difficult  conjuncture. 
The  prince  replied  by  a  memorial  of  considerable  length, 
dated  Middleburg,  the  30th  of  November,  in  which  he  gave 
them  the  most  wise  and  prudent  advice;  the  substance  of 
which  was. to  receive  any  propositions  coming  from  the  wily 
and  perfidious  Philip  with  the  utmost  suspicion,  and  to  re- 
fuse all  negotiation  with  his  deputy,  if  the  immediate  with- 
drawal of  the  foreign  troops  was  not  at  once  conceded,  and 
the  acceptance  of  the  Pacification  guaranteed  in  its  most 
ample  extent. 

This  advice  was  implicitly  followed;  the  states  in  the 
meantime  taking  the  precaution  of  assembling  a  large  body 
of  troops  at  Wavre,  between  Brussels  and  Namur,  the  com- 
mand of  which  was  given  to  the  count  of  Lalain.  A  still 
more  important  measure  was  the  despatch  of  an  envoy  to 
England,  to  implore  the  assistance  of  Elizabeth.  She  acted 
on  this  occasion  with  frankness  and  intrepidity;  giving  a 
distinguished  reception  to  the  envoy,  De  Sweveghem,  and 
advancing  a  loan  of  one  hundred  thousand  pounds  sterling, 
on  condition  that  the  states  made  no  treaty  without  her 
knowledge  or  participation. 

To  secure  still  more  closely  the  federal  union  that  now 
bound  the  different  provinces,  a  new  compact  was  con- 
cluded by  the  deputies  on  the  9th  of  January,  1577,  known 
by  the  title  of  The  Union  of  Brussels,  and  signed  by  the 
prelates,  ecclesiastics,  lords,  gentlemen,  magistrates,  and 
Holland.-^ 


170  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

others,  representing  the  estates  of  the  Netherlands.  A 
copy  of  this  act  of  union  was  transmitted  to  Don  John, 
to  enable  him  thoroughly  to  understand  the  present  state 
of  feeling  among  those  with  whom  he  was  now  about  to 
negotiate.  He  maintained  a  general  tone  of  great  moder- 
ation throughout  the  conference  which  immediately  took 
place;  and  after  some  months  of  cautious  parleying,  in 
the  latter  part  of  which  the  candor  of  the  prince  seemed 
doubtful,  and  which  the  native  historians  do  not  hesitate 
to  stigmatize  as  merely  assumed,  a  treaty  was  signed  at 
Marche-en-Famenne,  a  place  between  Namur  and  Luxem- 
burg, in  which  every  point  insisted  on  by  the  states  was, 
to  the  surprise  and  delight  of  the  nation,  fully  consented  to 
and  guaranteed.  This  important  document  is  called  The 
Perpetual  Edict,  bears  date  the  12th  of  February,  1577, 
and  contains  nineteen  articles.  They  were  all  based  on 
the  acceptance  of  the  Pacification ;  but  one  expressly  stipu- 
lated that  the  count  of  Beuren  should  be  set  at  liberty  as 
soon  as  the  Prince  of  Orange,  his  father,  had  on  his  part 
ratified  the  treaty. 

Don  John  made  his  solemn  entry  into  Brussels  on  the 
1st  of  May,  and  assumed  the  functions  of  his  limited  au- 
thority. The  conditions  of  the  treaty  were  promptly  and 
regularly  fulfilled.  The  citadels  occupied  by  the  Spanish 
soldiers  were  given  up  to  the  Flemish  and  Walloon  troops; 
and  the  departure  of  these  ferocious  foreigners  took  place 
at  once.  The  large  sums  required  to  facilitate  this  measure 
made  it  necessary  to  submit  for  a  while  to  the  presence  of 
the  German  mercenaries.  But  Don  John's  conduct  soon 
destroyed  the  temporary  delusion  which  had  deceived  the 
country.  Whether  his  projects  were  hitherto  only  con- 
cealed, or  that  they  were  now  for  the  first  time  excited  by 
the  disappointment  of  those  hopes  of  authority  held  out  to 
him  by  Philip,  and  which  his  predecessors  had  shared,  it  is 
certain  that  he  very  early  displayed  his  ambition,  and  very 
imprudently  attempted  to  put  it  in  force.  He  at  once  de- 
manded from  the  council  of  state  the  command  of  the 


TO    THE    DECLARATION   OF    INDEPENDENCE          171 

troops  and  the  disposal  of  the  revenues.  The  answer  was 
a  simple  reference  to  the  Pacification  of  Ghent;  and  the 
prince's  rejoinder  was  an  apparent  submission,  and  the  im- 
mediate despatch  of  letters 'in  cipher  to  the  king,  demand- 
ing a  supply  of  troops  sufficient  to  restore  his  ruined  author- 
ity. These  letters  were  intercepted  by  the  king  of  Navarre, 
afterward  Henry  IV.  of  France,  who  immediately  trans- 
mitted them  to  the  Prince  of  Orange,  his  old  friend  and 
fellow-soldier. 

Public  opinion,  to  the  suspicions  of  which  Don  John 
had  been  from  the  first  obnoxious,  was  now  unanimous  in 
attributing  to  design  all  that  was  unconstitutional  and  un- 
fair. His  impetuous  character  could  no  longer  submit  to 
the  restraint  of  dissimulation,  and  he  resolved  to  take  some 
bold  and  decided  measure.  A  very  favorable  opportunity 
was  presented  in  the  arrival  of  the  queen  of  Navarre,  Mar- 
guerite of  Valois,  at  Namur,  on  her  way  to  Spa.  The 
prince,  numerously  attended,  hastened  to  the  former  town 
under  pretence  of  paying  his  respects  to  the  queen.  As 
soon  as  she  left  the  place,  he  repaired  to  the  glacis  of  the 
town,  as  if  for  the  mere  enjoyment  of  a  walk,  admired  the 
external  appearance  of  the  citadel,  and  expressed  a  desire 
to  be  admitted  inside.  The  young  count  of  Berlaimont,  in 
the  absence  of  his  father,  the  governor  of  the  place,  and  an 
accomplice  in  the  plot  with  Don  John,  freely  admitted  him. 
The  prince  immediately  drew  forth  a  pistol,  and  exclaimed 
that  "that  was  the  first  moment  of  his  government";  took 
possession  of  the  place  with  his  immediate  guard,  and  in- 
stantly formed  them  into  a  devoted  garrison. 

The  Prince  of  Orange  immediately  made  public  the  in- 
tercepted letters;  and,  at  the  solicitation  of  the  states-gen- 
eral, repaired  to  Brussels ;  into  which  city  he  made  a  truly 
triumphant  entry  on  the  23d  of  September,  and  was  imme- 
diately nominated  governor,  protector  or  ruward  of  Bra- 
bant— a  dignity  which  had  fallen  into  disuse,  but  was  re- 
vived on  this  occasion,  and  which  was  little  inferior  in 
power  to  that  of  the  dictators  of  Rome.  His  authority, 


172  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

now  almost  unlimited,  extended  over  every  province  of  the 
Netherlands,  except  Namur  and  Luxemburg,  both  of  which 
acknowledged  Don  John. 

The  first  care  of  the  liberated  nation  was  to  demolish 
the  various  citadels  rendered  celebrated  and  odious  by  the 
excesses  of  the  Spaniards.  This  was  done  with  an  enthu- 
siastic industry  in  which  every  age  and  sex  bore  a  part, 
and  which  promised  well  for  liberty.  Among  the  ruins  of 
that  of  Antwerp  the  statue  of  the  duke  of  Alva  was  dis- 
covered ;  dragged  through  the  filthiest  streets  of  the  town ; 
and,  with  all  the  indignity  so  well  merited  by  the  original, 
it  was  finally  broken  into  a  thousand  pieces. 

The  country,  in  conferring  such  extensive  powers  on  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  had  certainly  gone  too  far,  not  for  his 
desert,  but  for  its  own  tranquillity.  It  was  impossible  that 
such  an  elevation  should  not  excite  the  discontent  and 
awaken  the  enmity  of  the  haughty  aristocracy  of  Flan- 
ders and  Brabant ;  and  particularly  of  the  House  of  Croi, 
the  ancient  rivals  of  that  of  Nassau.  The  then  representa- 
tive of  that  family  seemed  the  person  most  suited  to  counter- 
balance William's  excessive  power.  The  duke  of  Arschot 
was  therefore  named  governor  of  Flanders ;  and  he  imme- 
diately put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  confederacy  of  the 
Catholic  party,  which  quickly  decided  to  offer  the  chief 
government  of  the  country,  still  in  the  name  of  Philip,  to 
the  archduke  Mathias,  brother  of  the  emperor  Rodolf  II., 
and  cousin-german  to  Philip  of  Spain,  a  youth  but  nineteen 
years  of  age.  A  Flemish  gentleman  named  Maelsted  was 
intrusted  with  the  proposal.  Mathias  joyously  consented; 
and,  quitting  Vienna  with  the  greatest  secrecy,  he  arrived 
at  Maestricht,  without  any  previous  announcement,  and 
expected  only  by  the  party  that  had  invited  him,  at  the 
end  of  October,  1577. 

The  Prince  of  Orange,  instead  of  showing  the  least 
symptom  of  dissatisfaction  at  this  underhand  proceeding 
aimed  at  his  personal  authority,  announced  his  perfect  ap- 
proval of  the  nomination,  and  was  the  foremost  in  recom- 


TO  THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE    173 

mending  measures  for  the  honor  of  the  archduke  and  the 
security  of  the  country.  He  drew  up  the  basis  of  a  treaty 
for  Mathias's  acceptance,  on  terms  which  guaranteed  to  the 
council  of  state  and  the  states-general  the  virtual  sover- 
eignty, and  left  to  the  young  prince  little  beyond  the  fine 
title  which  had  dazzled  his  boyish  vanity.  The  Prince  of 
Orange  was  appointed  his  lieutenant,  in  all  the  branches 
of  the  administration,  civil,  military,  or  financial;  and  the 
duke  of  Arschot,  who  had  hoped  to  obtain  an  entire  domina- 
tion over  the  puppet  he  had  brought  upon  the  stage,  saw 
himself  totally  foiled  in  his  project,  and  left  without  a 
chance  or  a  pretext  for  the  least  increase  to  his  influence. 
But  a  still  greater  disappointment  attended  this  ambi- 
tious nobleman  in  the  very  stronghold  of  his  power.  The 
Flemings,  driven  by  persecution  to  a  state  of  fury  almost 
unnatural,  had,  in  their  antipathy  to  Spain,  adopted  a 
hatred  against  Catholicism,  which  had  its  source  only  in 
political  frenzy,  while  the  converts  imagined  it  to  arise 
from  reason  and  conviction.  Two  men  had  taken  advan- 
tage of  this  state  of  the  public  mind  and  gained  over  it  an 
unbounded  ascendency.  They  were  Francis  de  Kethulle, 
lord  of  Ryhove,  and  John  Hembyse,  who  each  seemed 
formed  to  realize  the  beau-ideal  of  a  factious  demagogue. 
They  had  acquired  supreme  power  over  the  people  of  Ghent, 
and  had  at  their  command  a  body  of  twenty  thousand  reso- 
lute and  well-armed  supporters.  The  duke  of  Arschot 
vainly  attempted  to  oppose  his  authority  to  that  of  these 
men;  and  he  on  one  occasion  imprudently  exclaimed  that 
"he  would  have  them  hanged,  even  though  they  were  pro- 
tected by  the  Prince  of  Orange  himself."  The  same  night 
Ryhove  summoned  the  leaders  of  his  bands;  and  quickly 
assembling  a  considerable  force,  they  repaired  to  the  duke's 
hotel,  made  him  prisoner,  and,  without  allowing  him  time  to 
dress,  carried  him  away  in  triumph.  At  the  same  time  the 
bishops  of  Bruges  and  Ypres,  the  high  bailiffs  of  Ghent  and 
Courtrai,  the  governor  of  Oudenarde,  and  other  important 
magistrates,  were  arrested — accused  of  complicity  with  the 


174  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

duke,  but  of  what  particular  offence  the  lawless  demagogues 
did  not  deign  to  specify.  The  two  tribunes  immediately 
divided  the  whole  honors  and  authority  of  administration; 
Ryhove  as  military,  and  Hembyse  as  civil,  chief. 

The  latter  of  these  legislators  completely  changed  the 
forms  of  the  government ;  he  revived  the  ancient  privileges 
destroyed  by  Charles  V.,  and  took  all  preliminary  measures 
for  forcing  the  various  provinces  to  join  with  the  city  of 
Ghent  in  forming  a  federative  republic.  The  states-general 
and  the  Prince  of  Orange  were  alarmed,  lest  these  troubles 
might  lead  to  a  renewal  of  the  anarchy  from  the  effects  of 
which  the  country  had  but  just  obtained  breathing-time. 
Ryhove  consented,  at  the  remonstrance  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  to  release  the  duke  of  Arschot;  but  William  was 
obliged  to  repair  to  Ghent  in  person,  in  the  hope  of  estab- 
lishing order.  He  arrived  on  the  29th  of  December,  and 
entered  on  a  strict  inquiry  with  his  usual  calmness  and  de- 
cision. He  could  not  succeed  in  obtaining  the  liberty  of  the 
other  prisoners,  though  he  pleaded  for  them  strongly.  Hav- 
ing severely  reprimanded  the  factious  leaders,  and  pointed 
out  the  dangers  of  their  illegal  course,  he  returned  to  Brus- 
sels, leaving  the  factious  city  in  a  temporary  tranquillity 
which  his  firmness  and  discretion  could  alone  have  obtained. 

The  archduke  Mathias,  having  visited  Antwerp,  and 
acceded  to  all  the  conditions  required  of  him,  made  his 
public  entry  into  Brussels  on  the  18th  of  January,  1578, 
and  was  installed  in  his  dignity  of  governor-general  amid 
the  usual  fetes  and  rejoicings.  Don  John  of  Austria  was 
at  the  same  time  declared  an  enemy  to  the  country,  with  a 
public  order  to  quit  it  without  delay ;  and  a  prohibition  was 
issued  against  any  inhabitant  acknowledging  his  forfeited 
authority. 

War  was  now  once  more  openly  declared ;  some  fruitless 
negotiations  having  afforded  a  fair  pretext  for  hostilities. 
The  rapid  appearance  of  a  numerous  army  under  the  orders 
of  Don  John  gave  strength  to  the  suspicions  of  his  former 
dissimulation.  It  was  currently  believed  that  large  bodies 


TO    THE    DECLARATION    OF    INDEPENDENCE  175 

of  the  Spanish  troops  had  remained  concealed  in  the  forests 
of  Luxemburg  and  Lorraine ;  while  several  regiments,  which 
had  remained  in  France  in  the  service  of  the  League,  im- 
mediatly  re-entered  the  Netherlands.  Alexander  Farnese, 
prince  of  Parma,  son  of  the  former  stadtholderess,  came  to 
the  aid  of  his  uncle,  Don  John,  at  the  head  of  a  large  force 
of  Italians ;  and  these  several  reinforcements,  with  the  Ger- 
man auxiliaries  still  in  the  country,  composed  an  army  of 
twenty  thousand  men.  The  army  of  the  states-general  was 
still  larger;  but  far  inferior  in  point  of  discipline.  It  was 
commanded  by  Antoine  de  Goignies,  a  gentleman  of  Hai- 
nault,  and  an  old  soldier  of  the  school  of  Charles  V. 

After  a  sharp  affair  at  the  village  of  Riminants,  in 
which  the  royalists  had  the  worst,  the  two  armies  met  at 
Gemblours,  on  the  31st  of  January,  1578;  and  the  prince  of 
Parma  gamed  a  complete  victory,  almost  with  his  cavalry 
only,  taking  De  Goignies  prisoner,  with  the  whole  of  his 
artillery  and  baggage.  The  account  of  his  victory  is  almost 
miraculous.  The  royalists,  if  we  are  to  credit  their  most 
minute  but  not  impartial  historian,  had  only  one  thousand 
two  hundred  men  engaged;  by  whom  six  thousand  were 
put  to  the  sword,  with  the  loss  of  but  twelve  men  and  little 
more  than  an  hour's  labor. 

The  news  of  this  battle  threw  the  states  into  the  utmost 
consternation.  Brussels  being  considered  insecure,  the  arch- 
duke Mathias  and  his  council  retired  to  Antwerp;  but  the 
victors  did  not  feel  their  forces  sufficient  to  justify  an  attack 
upon  the  capital.  They,  however,  took  Louvain,  Tirlemont, 
and  several  other  towns;  but  these  conquests  were  of  little 
import  in  comparison  with  the  loss  of  Amsterdam,  which 
declared  openly  and  unanimously  for  the  patriot  cause.  The 
states-general  recovered  their  courage,  and  prepared  *or  a 
new  contest.  They  sent  deputies  to  the  diet  of  Worms,  to 
ask  succor  from  the  princes  of  the  empire.  The  count  pala- 
tine John  Casimir  repaired  to  their  assistance  with  a  consid- 
erable force  of  Germans  and  English,  all  equipped  and  paid 
by  Queen  Elizabeth.  The  duke  of  Alencon,  brother  of 


176  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

Henry  III.  of  France,  hovered  on  the  frontiers  of  Hainault 
with  a  respectable  army;  and  the  cause  of  liberty  seemed 
not  quite  desperate. 

But  all  the  various  chiefs  had  separate  interests  and 
opposite  views;  while  the  fanatic  violence  of  the  people  of 
Ghent  sapped  the  foundations  of  the  pacification  to  which 
the  town  had  given  its  name.  The  Walloon  provinces,  deep- 
rooted  in  their  attachment  to  religious  bigotry,  which  they 
loved  still  better  than  political  freedom,  gradually  withdrew 
from  the  common  cause;  and  without  yet  openly  becoming 
reconciled  with  Spam,  they  adopted  a  neutrality  which  was 
tantamount  to  it.  Don  John  was,  however,  deprived  of  all 
chance  of  reaping  any  advantage  from  these  unfortunate 
dissensions.  He  was  suddenly  taken  ill  in  his  camp  at 
Bougy;  and  died,  after  a  fortnight's  suffering,  on  the  1st 
of  October,  1578,  in  the  thirty-third  year  of  his  age. 

This  unlooked-for  close  to  a  career  which  had  been  so 
brilliant,  and  to  a  life  from  which  so  much  was  yet  to  be 
expected,  makes  us  pause  to  consider  for  a  moment  the  dif- 
ferent opinions  of  his  times  and  of  history  on  the  fate  of  a 
personage  so  remarkable.  The  contemporary  Flemish  me- 
moirs say  that  he  died  of  the  plague ;  those  of  Spain  call  his 
disorder  the  purple  fever.  The  examination  of  his  corpse 
caused  an  almost  general  belief  that  he  was  poisoned.  "He 
lost  his  life,"  says  one  author,  "with  great  suspicion  of  poi- 
son." "Acabo  su  vida,  con  gran  sospecho  de  veneno." — 
Herrera.  Another  speaks  of  the  suspicious  state  of  his  in- 
testines, but  without  any  direct  opinion.  An  English  his- 
torian states  the  fact  of  his  being  poisoned,  without  any 
reserve.  Flemish  writers  do  not  hesitate  to  attribute  his 
murder  to  the  jealousy  of  Philip  II.,  who,  they  assert,  had 
discovered  a  secret  treaty  of  marriage  about  to  be  concluded 
between  Don  John  and  Elizabeth  of  England,  securing  them 
the  joint  sovereignty  of  the  Netherlands.  An  Italian  his- 
torian of  credit  asserts  that  this  ambitious  design  was  attrib- 
uted to  the  prince ;  and  admits  that  his  death  was  not  con- 
sidered as  having  arisen  from  natural  causes.  "E  quindi 


TO    THE    DECLARATION    OF    INDEPENDENCE          177 

nacque  1'opinione  dispersa  allora,  ch'egli  mancasse  di  morte 
aiutata  piu  tosto  che  naturale." — Bentivoglio.  It  was  also 
believed  that  Escovedo,  his  confidential  secretary,  being  im- 
mediately called  back  to  Spain,  was  secretly  assassinated  by 
Antonio  Perez,  Philip's  celebrated  minister,  and  by  the  spe- 
cial orders  of  the  king.  Time  has,  however,  covered  the 
affair  with  impenetrable  mystery;  and  the  death  of  Don 
John  was  of  little  importance  to  the  affairs  of  the  country 
he  governed  so  briefly  and  so  ingloriously,  if  it  be  not  that  it 
added  another  motive  to  the  natural  hatred  for  his  assumed 
murderer. 

The  prince  of  Parma,  who  now  succeeded,  by  virtue  of 
Don  John's  testament,  to  the  post  of  governor-general  in 
the  name  of  the  king,  remained  intrenched  hi  his  camp.  He 
expected  much  from  the  disunion  of  his  various  opponents; 
and  what  he  foresaw  very  quickly  happened.  The  duke  of 
Alengon  disbanded  his  troops  and  retired  to  France ;  and  the 
prince  Palatine,  following  his  example,  withdrew  to  Ger- 
many, having  first  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  engage 
the  queen  of  England  as  a^principal  in  the  confederacy.  In 
this  perplexity,  the  Prince  of  Orange  saw  that  the  real  hope 
for  safety  was  in  uniting  still  more  closely  the  northern 
provinces  of  the  union;  for  he  discovered  the  fallacy  of 
reckoning  on  the  cordial  and  persevering  fidelity  of  the 
Walloons.  He  therefore  convoked  a  new  assembly  at 
Utrecht;  and  the  deputies  of  Holland,  Guelders,  Zealand, 
Utrecht,  and  Groningen,  signed,  on  the  29th  of  January, 
1579,  the  famous  act  called  the  Union  of  Utrecht,  the  real 
basis  or  fundamental  pact  of  the  republic  of  the  United 
Provinces.  It  makes  no  formal  renunciation  of  allegiance 
to  Spain,  but  this  is  virtually  done  by  the  omission  of  the 
king's  name.  The  twenty-six  articles  of  this  act  consolidate 
the  indissoluble  connection  of  the  United  Provinces;  each 
preserving  its  separate  franchises,  and  following  its  own 
good  pleasure  on  the  subject  of  religion.  The  towns  of 
Ghent,  Antwerp,  Bruges,  and  Ypres,  soon  after  acceded 
to  and  joined  the  union. 


178  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

The  prince  of  Parma  now  assumed  the  offensive,  and 
marched  against  Maestricht  with  his  whole  army.  He  took 
the  place  in  the  month  of  June,  1579,  after  a  gallant  resist- 
ance, and  delivered  it  to  sack  and  massacre  for  three  entire 
days.  About  the  same  time  Mechlin  and  Bois-le-duc  re- 
turned to  their  obedience  to  the  king.  Hembyse  having 
renewed  his  attempts  against  the  public  peace  at  Ghent, 
the  Prince  of  Orange  repaired  to  that  place,  re-established 
order,  frightened  the  inveterate  demagogue  into  secret  flight, 
and  Flanders  was  once  more  restored  to  tranquillity. 

An  attempt  was  made  this  year  at  a  reconciliation  be- 
tween the  king  and  the  states.  The  emperor  Rodolf  II. 
and  Pope  Gregory  XIII.  offered  their  mediation;  and  on 
the  5th  of  April  a  congress  assembled  at  Cologne,  where  a 
number  of  the  most  celebrated  diplomatists  in  Europe  were 
collected.  But  it  was  early  seen  that  no  settlement  would 
result  from  the  apparently  reciprocal  wish  for  peace.  One 
point — that  of  religion,  the  main,  and  indeed  the  only  one  in 
debate — was  now  maintained  by  Philip's  ambassador  in  the 
same  unchristian  spirit  as  if  torrents  of  blood  and  millions 
of  treasure  had  never  been  sacrificed  in  the  cause.  Philip 
was  inflexible  in  his  resolution  never  to  concede  the  exercise 
of  the  reformed  worship;  and  after  nearly  a  year  of  fruit- 
less consultation,  and  the  expenditure  of  immense  sums  of 
money,  the  congress  separated  on  the  17th  of  November, 
without  having  effected  anything.  There  were  several  other 
articles  intended  for  discussion,  had  the  main  one  been  ad- 
justed, on  which  Philip  was  fully  as  determined  to  make  no 
concession ;  but  his  obstinacy  was  not  put  to  these  new  tests. 

The  time  had  now  arrived  for  the  execution  of  the  great 
and  decisive  step  for  independence,  the  means  of  effecting 
which  had  been  so  long  the  object  of  exertion  and  calcula- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  Prince  of  Orange.  He  now  resolved 
to  assemble  the  states  of  the  United  Provinces,  solemnly 
abjure  the  dominion  of  Spain,  and  depose  King  Philip  from 
the  sovereignty  he  had  so  justly  forfeited.  Much  has  been 
written  both  for  and  against  this  measure,  which  involved 


TO   THE    DECLARATION    OF    INDEPENDENCE          179 

every  argument  of  natural  rights  and  municipal  privilege. 
The  natural  rights  of  man  may  seem  to  comprise  only  those 
which  he  enjoys  in  a  state  of  nature;  but  he  carries  several 
of  those  with  him  into  society,  which  is  based  upon  the  very 
principle  of  their  preservation.  The  great  precedent  which 
so  many  subsequent  revolutions  have  acknowledged  and 
confirmed  is  that  which  we  now  record.  The  states-general 
assembled  at  Antwerp  early  in  the  year  1580;  and,  in  spite 
of  all  the  opposition  of  the  Catholic  deputies,  the  authority 
of  Spain  was  revoked  forever,  and  the  United  Provinces 
declared  a  free  and  independent  state.  At  the  same  time 
was  debated  the  important  question  as  to  whether  the  pro- 
tection of  the  new  state  should  be  offered  to  England  or  to 
France.  Opinions  were  divided  on  this  point;  but  that  of 
the  Prince  of  Orange  being  in  favor  of  the  latter  country, 
from  many  motives  of  sound  policy,  it  was  decided  to  offer 
the  sovereignty  to  the  duke  of  Alen§on.  The  archduke 
Mathias,  who  was  present  at  the  deliberations,  was  treated 
with  little  ceremony ;  but  he  obtained  the  promise  of  a  pen- 
sion when  the  finances  were  in  a  situation  to  afford  it.  The 
definite  proposal  to  be  made  to  the  duke  of  Alengon  was  not 
agreed  upon  for  some  months  afterward ;  and  it  was  in  the 
month  of  August  following  that  St.  Aldegonde  and  other 
deputies  waited  on  the  duke  at  the  chateau  of  Plessis-le- 
Tours,  when  he  accepted  the  offered  sovereignty  on  the  pro- 
posed conditions,  which  set  narrow  bounds  to  his  authority, 
and  gave  ample  security  to  the  United  Provinces.  The 
articles  were  formally  signed  on  the  29th  day  of  September; 
and  the  duke  not  only  promised  quickly  to  lead  a  numerous 
army  to  the  Netherlands,  but  he  obtained  a  letter  from  his 
brother,  Henry  III.,  dated  December  26th,  by  which  the 
king  pledged  himself  to  give  further  aid,  as  soon  as  he 
might  succeed  in  quieting  his  own  disturbed  and  unfortu- 
nate country.  The  states-general,  assembled  at  Delft,  rati- 
fied the  treaty  on  the  30th  of  December ;  and  the  year  which 
was  about  to  open  seemed  to  promise  the  consolidation  of 
freedom  and  internal  peace. 


CHAPTER  XII 

TO   THE   MURDER   OF  THE   PRINCE   OP   ORANGE 
A.D.  1580—1584 

PHILIP  might  be  well  excused  the  utmost  violence  of 
resentment  on  this  occasion,  had  it  been  bounded  by 
fair  and  honorable  efforts  for  the  maintenance  of  his 
authority.  But  every  general  principle  seemed  lost  in  the 
base  inveteracy  of  private  hatred.  The  ruin  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange  was  his  main  object,  and  his  industry  and  ingenuity 
were  taxed  to  the  utmost  to  procure  his  murder.  Existing 
documents  prove  that  he  first  wished  to  accomplish  this  in 
such  a  way  as  that  the  responsibility  and  odium  of  the  act 
might  rest  on  the  prince  of  Parma;  but  the  mind  of  the 
prince  was  at  that  period  too  magnanimous  to  allow  of  a 
participation  in  the  crime.  The  correspondence  on  the  sub- 
ject is  preserved  in  the  archives,  and  the  date  of  Philip's 
first  letter  (30th  of  November,  1579)  proves  that  even  before 
the  final  disavowal  of  his  authority  by  the  United  Provinces 
he  had  harbored  his  diabolical  design.  The  prince  remon- 
strated, but  with  no  effect.  It  even  appears  that  Philip's 
anxiety  would  not  admit  of  the  delay  necessary  for  the 
prince's  reply.  The  infamous  edict  of  proscription  against 
William  bears  date  the  15th  of  March;  and  the  most  press- 
ing letters  commanded  the  prince  of  Parma  to  make  it  pub- 
lic. It  was  not,  however,  till  the  15th  of  June  that  he  sent 
forth  the  fatal  ban. 

This  edict,  under  Philip's  own  signature,  is  a  tissue  of 
invective  and  virulence.  The  illustrious  object  of  its  abuse 
is  accused  of  having  engaged  the  heretics  to  profane  the 
churches  and  break  the  images;  of  having  persecuted  and 
massacred  the  Catholic  priests;  of  hypocrisy,  tyranny,  and 
perjury;  and,  as  the  height  of  atrocity,  of  having  intro- 
(180) 


TO   MUEDER   OF   PRINCE   OF   ORANGE  181 

duced  liberty  of  conscience  into  his  country!  For  these 
causes,  and  many  others,  the  king  declares  him  "proscribed 
and  banished  as  a  public  pest";  and  it  is  permitted  to  all 
persons  to  assail  him  "in  his  fortune,  person,  and  life,  as  an 
enemy  to  human  nature."  Philip  also,  "for  the  recompense 
of  virtue  and  the  punishment  of  crime,"  promises  to  who- 
ever will  deliver  up  William  of  Nassau,  dead  or  alive,  "in 
lands  or  money,  at  his  choice,  the  sum  of  twenty-five  thou- 
sand golden  crowns ;  to  grant  a  free  pardon  to  such  person 
for  all  former  offences  of  what  kind  soever,  and  to  invest 
him  with  letters  patent  of  nobility." 

In  reply  to  this  brutal  document  of  human  depravity, 
"William  published  all  over  Europe  his  famous  "Apology," 
of  which  it  is  enough  to  say  that  language  could  not  pro- 
duce a  more  splendid  refutation  of  every  charge  or  a  more 
terrible  recrimination  against  the  guilty  tyrant.  It  was 
attributed  to  the  pen  of  Peter  de  Villiers,  a  Protestant  min- 
ister. It  is  universally  pronounced  one  of  the  noblest  mon- 
uments of  history.  William,  from  the  hour  of  his  proscrip- 
tion, became  at  once  the  equal  in  worldly  station,  as  he  had 
ever  been  the  superior  in  moral  worth,  of  his  royal  calumni- 
ator. He  took  his  place  as  a  prince  of  an  imperial  family, 
not  less  ancient  or  illustrious  than  that  of  the  House  of  Aus- 
tria ;  and  he  stood  forward  at  the  supreme  tribunal  of  public 
feeling  and  opinion  as  the  accuser  of  a  king  who  disgraced 
his  lineage  and  his  throne. 

By  a  separate  article  in  the  treaty  with  the  states,  the 
duke  of  Alengon  secured  to  William  the  sovereignty  of  Hol- 
land and  Zealand,  as  well  as  the  lordship  of  Friesland,  with 
his  title  of  stadtholder,  retaining  to  the  duke  his  claim  on 
the  prince's  faith  and  homage.  The  exact  nature  of  Wil- 
liam's authority  was  finally  ratified  on  the  24th  of  July, 
1581 ;  on  which  day  he  took  the  prescribed  oath,  and  entered 
on  the  exercise  of  his  well-earned  rights. 

Philip  now  formed  the  design  of  sending  back  the 
duchess  of  Parma  to  resume  her  former  situation  as  stadt- 
holderess,  and  exercise  the  authority  conjointly  with  her 


182  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

son.  But  the  latter  positively  declined  this  proposal  of 
divided  power;  and  he,  consequently,  was  left  alone  to  its 
entire  exercise.  Military  affairs  made  but  slow  progress 
this  year.  The  most  remarkable  event  was  the  capture  of 
La  Noue,  a  native  of  Bretagne,  one  of  the  bravest,  and  cer- 
tainly the  cleverest,  officers  in  the  service  of  the  states,  into 
which  he  had  passed  after  having  given  important  aid  to  the 
Huguenots  of  France.  He  was  considered  so  important  a 
prize  that  Philip  refused  all  proposals  for  his  exchange,  and 
detained  him  in  the  castle  of  Limburg  for  five  years. 

The  siege  of  Cambray  was  now  undertaken  by  the  prince 
of  Parma  in  person ;  while  the  duke  of  Alencpn,  at  the  head 
of  a  large  army  and  the  flower  of  the  French  nobility,  ad- 
vanced to  its  relief,  and  soon  forced  his  rival  to  raise  the 
siege.  The  new  sovereign  of  the  Netherlands  entered  the 
town,  and  was  received  with  tumultuous  joy  by  the  half- 
starved  citizens  and  garrison.  The  prince  of  Parma  sought 
an  equivalent  for  this  check  in  the  attack  of  Tournay,  which 
he  immediately  afterward  invested.  The  town  was  but 
feebly  garrisoned;  but  the  Protestant  inhabitants  prepared 
for  a  desperate  defence,  under  the  exciting  example  of  the 
princess  of  Epinoi,  wife  of  the  governor,  who  was  himself 
absent.  This  remarkable  woman  furnishes  another  proof  of 
the  female  heroism  which  abounded  in  these  wars.  Though 
wounded  in  the  arm,  she  fought  in  the  breach  sword  in 
hand,  braving  peril  and  death.  And  when  at  length  it  was 
impossible  to  hold  out  longer,  she  obtained  an  honorable 
capitulation,  and  marched  out,  on  the  29th  of  November, 
on  horseback,  at  the  head  of  the  garrison,  with  an  air  of 
triumph  rather  than  of  defeat. 

The  duke  of  Alencon,  now  created  duke  of  Anjou,  by 
which  title  we  shall  hereafter  distinguish  him,  had  repaired 
to  England,  in  hopes  of  completing  his  project  of  marriage 
with  Elizabeth.  After  three  months  of  almost  confident  ex- 
pectation, the  virgin  queen,  at  this  time  fifty  years  of  age, 
with  a  caprice  not  quite  justifiable,  broke  all  her  former 
engagements;  and,  happily  for  herself  and  her  country, 


TO   MURDER   OF   PRINCE    OF   ORANGE  183 

declined  the  marriage.  Anjou  burst  out  into  all  the  vio- 
lence of  his  turbulent  temper,  and  set  sail  for  the  Nether- 
lands. Elizabeth  made  all  the  reparation  in  her  power,  by 
the  honors  paid  him  on  his  dismissal.  She  accompanied 
him  as  far  as  Canterbury,  and  sent  him  away  under  the 
convoy  of  the  earl  of  Leicester,  her  chief  favorite ;  and  with 
a  brilliant  suite  and  a  fleet  of  fifteen  sail.  Anjou  was  re- 
ceived at  Antwerp  with  equal  distinction ;  and  was  inaugu- 
rated there  on  the  19th  of  February  as  duke  of  Brabant, 
Lothier,  Limburg,  and  Guelders,  with  many  other  titles,  of 
which  he  soon  proved  himself  unworthy.  "When  the  Prince 
of  Orange,  at  the  ceremony,  placed  the  ducal  mantle  on  his 
shoulders,  Anjou  said  to  him,  "Fasten  it  so  well,  prince, 
that  they  cannot  take  it  off  again!" 

During  the  rejoicings  which  followed  this  inauspicious 
ceremony,  Philip's  proscription  against  the  Prince  of  Orange 
put  forth  its  first  fruits.  The  latter  gave  a  grand  dinner  in 
the  chateau  of  Antwerp,  which  he  occupied,  on  the  18th  of 
March,  the  birthday  of  the  duke  of  Anjou;  and,  as  he  was 
quitting  the  dining-room,  on  his  way  to  his  private  cham- 
ber, a  young  man  stepped  forward  and  offered  a  pretended 
petition,  "William  being  at  all  times  of  easy  access  for  such 
an  object.  While  he  read  the  paper,  the  treacherous  sup- 
pliant discharged  a  pistol  at  his  head :  the  ball  struck  him 
under  the  left  ear,  and  passed  out  at  the  right  cheek.  As 
he  tottered  and  fell,  the  assassin  drew  a  poniard  to  add  sui- 
cide to  the  crime,  but  he  was  instantly  put  to  death  by  the 
attendant  guards.  The  young  Count  Maurice,  William's 
second  son,  examined  the  murderer's  body;  and  the  papers 
found  on  him,  and  subsequent  inquiries,  told  fully  who  and 
what  he  was.  His  name  was  John  Jaureguay,  his  age 
twenty-three  years;  he  was  a  native  of  Biscay,  and  clerk 
to  a  Spanish  merchant  of  Antwerp,  called  Gaspar  Anastro. 
This  man  had  instigated  him  to  the  crime ;  having  received 
a  promise  signed  by  King  Philip,  engaging  to  give  him 
twenty-eight  thousand  ducats  and  other  advantages,  if  he 
would  undertake  to  assassinate  the  Prince  of  Orange.  The 


184  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

inducements  held  out  by  Anastro  to  his  simple  dupe,  were 
backed  strongly  by  the  persuasions  of  Antony  Timmerman, 
a  Dominican  monk ;  and  by  Venero,  Anastro's  cashier,  who 
had  from  fear  declined  becoming  himself  the  murderer. 
Jaureguay  had  duly  heard  mass,  and  received  the  sacra- 
ment, before  executing  his  attempt ;  and  in  his  pockets  were 
found  a  catechism  of  the  Jesuits,  with  tablets  filled  with 
prayers  in  the  Spanish  language;  one  in  particular  being 
addressed  to  the  Angel  Gabriel,  imploring  his  intercession 
with  God  and  the  Virgin,  to  aid  him  in  the  consummation 
of  his  object.  Other  accompanying  absurdities  seem  to 
pronounce  this  miserable  wretch  to  be  as  much  an  instru- 
ment in  the  hands  of  others  as  the  weapon  of  his  crime  was 
in  his  own.  Timmerman  and  Venero  made  a  full  avowal  of 
their  criminality,  and  suffered  death  in  the  usual  barbarous 
manner  of  the  times.  The  Jesuits,  some  years  afterward, 
solemnly  gathered  the  remains  of  these  three  pretended 
martyrs,  and  exposed  them  as  holy  relics  for  public  ven- 
eration. Anastro  effected  his  escape. 

The  alarm  and  indignation  of  the  people  of  Antwerp 
knew  no  bounds.  Their  suspicions  at  first  fell  on  the  duke 
of  Anjou  and  the  French  party ;  but  the  truth  was  soon  dis- 
covered; and  the  rapid  recovery  of  the  Prince  of  Orange 
from  his  desperate  wound  set  everything  once  more  to 
rights.  But  a  premature  report  of  his  death  flew  rapidly 
abroad ;  and  he  had  anticipated  proofs  of  his  importance  in 
the  eyes  of  all  Europe,  in  the  frantic  delight  of  the  base, 
and  the  deep  affliction  of  the  good.  Within  three  months, 
"William  was  able  to  accompany  the  duke  of  Anjou  in  his 
visits  to  Ghent,  Bruges,  and  the  other  chief  towns  of  Flan- 
ders; in  each  of  which  the  ceremony  of  inauguration  was 
repeated.  Several  military  exploits  now  took  place,  and 
various  towns  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  opposing  parties; 
changing  masters  with  a  rapidity,  as  well  as  a  previous  en- 
durance of  suffering,  that  must  have  carried  confusion  and 
change  on  the  contending  principles  of  allegiance  into  the 
hearts  and  heads  of  the  harassed  inhabitants. 


TO    MURDER    OF    PRINCE    OF    ORANGE  185 

The  duke  of  Anjou,  intemperate,  inconstant,  and  unprin- 
cipled, saw  that  his  authority  was  but  the  shadow  of  power, 
compared  to  the  deep-fixed  practices  of  despotism  which 
governed  the  other  nations  of  Europe.  The  French  officers, 
who  formed  his  suite  and  possessed  all  his  confidence,  had 
no  difficulty  in  raising  his  discontent  into  treason  against 
the  people  with  whom  he  had  made  a  solemn  compact.  The 
result  of  their  councils  was  a  deep-laid  plot  against  Flemish 
liberty;  and  its  execution  was  ere-long  attempted.  He  sent 
secret  orders  to  the  governors  of  Dunkirk,  Bruges,  Ter- 
monde,  and  other  towns,  to  seize  on  and  hold  them  in  his 
name;  reserving  for  himself  the  infamy  of  the  enterprise 
against  Antwerp.  To  prepare  for  its  execution,  he  caused 
his  numerous  army  of  French  and  Swiss  to  approach  the 
city;  and  they  were  encamped  in  the  neighborhood,  at  a 
place  called  Borgerhout. 

On  the  17th  of  January,  1583,  the  duke  dined  somewhat 
earlier  than  usual,  under  the  pretext  of  proceeding  after- 
ward to  review  his  army  in  their  camp.  He  set  out  at 
noon,  accompanied  by  his  guard  of  two  hundred  horse; 
and  when  he  reached  the  second  drawbridge,  one  of  his 
officers  gave  the  preconcerted  signal  for  an  attack  on  the 
Flemish  guard,  by  pretending  that  he  had  fallen  and  broken 
his  leg.  The  duke  called  out  to  his  followers,  "Courage, 
courage!  the  town  is  ours!"  The  guard  at  the  gate  was  all 
soon  despatched ;  and  the  French  troops,  which  waited  out- 
side to  the  number  of  three  thousand,  rushed  quickly  in, 
furiously  shouting  the  war-cry,  "Town  taken!  town  takenf 
kill!  kill!"  The  astonished  but  intrepid  citizens,  recovering 
from  their  confusion,  instantly  flew  to  arms.  All  differences 
in  religion  or  politics  were  forgotten  in  the  common  danger 
to  their  freedom.  Catholics  and  Protestants,  men  and 
women,  rushed  alike  to  the  conflict.  The  ancient  spirit  of 
Flanders  seemed  to  animate  all.  "Workmen,  armed  with 
the  instruments  of  their  various  trades,  started  from  their 
shops  and  flung  themselves  upon  the  enemy.  A  baker 
sprang  from  the  cellar  where  he  was  kneading  his  dough, 


186  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

and  with  his  oven  shovel  struck  a  French  dragoon  to  the 
ground.  Those  who  had  firearms,  after  expending  their 
bullets,  took  from  their  pouches  and  pockets  pieces  of 
money,  which  they  bent  between  their  teeth,  and  used  for 
charging  their  arquebuses.  The  French  were  driven  suc- 
cessively from  the  streets  and  ramparts,  and  the  cannons 
planted  on  the  latter  were  immediately  turned  against  the 
reinforcements  which  attempted  to  enter  the  town.  The 
French  were  everywhere  beaten ;  the  duke  of  Anjou  saved 
himself  by  flight,  and  reached  Termonde,  after  the  perilous 
necessity  of  passing  through  a  large  tract  of  inundated 
country.  His  loss  in  this  base  enterprise  amounted  to  one 
thousand  five  hundred;  while  that  of  the  citizens  did  not 
exceed  eighty  men.  The  attempts  simultaneously  made  on 
the  other  towns  succeeded  at  Dunkirk  and  Termonde ;  but 
all  the  others  failed. 

The  character  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  never  appeared 
so  thoroughly  great  as  at  this  crisis.  "With  wisdom  and 
magnanimity  rarely  equalled  and  never  surpassed,  he  threw 
himself  and  his  authority  between  the  indignation  of  the 
country  and  the  guilt  of  Anjou;  saving  the  former  from 
excess,  and  the  latter  from  execration.  The  disgraced  and 
discomfited  duke  proffered  to  the  states  excuses  as  mean  as 
they  were  hypocritical ;  and  his  brother,  the  king  of  France, 
sent  a  special  envoy  to  intercede  for  him.  But  it  was  the 
influence  of  William  that  screened  the  culprit  from  public 
reprobation  and  ruin,  and  regained  for  him  the  place  and 
power  which  he  might  easily  have  secured  for  himself,  had 
he  not  prized  the  welfare  of  his  country  far  above  all  objects 
of  private  advantage.  A  new  treaty  was  negotiated,  con- 
firming Anjou  in  his  former  station,  with  renewed  security 
against  any  future  treachery  on  his  part.  He  in  the  mean- 
time retired  to  France,  to  let  the  public  indignation  subside ; 
but  before  he  could  assume  sufficient  confidence  again  to 
face  the  country  he  had  so  basely  injured  his  worthless  ex- 
istence was  suddenly  terminated,  some  thought  by  poison — 
the  common  solution  of  all  such  doubtful  questions  in  those 


TO    MURDER   OF    PRINCE    OF   ORANGE  187 

days — in  the  month  of  June  in  the  following  year.  He  ex- 
pired in  his  twenty-ninth  year. 

A  disgusting  proof  of  public  ingratitude  and  want  of 
judgment  was  previously  furnished  by  the  conduct  of  the 
people  of  Antwerp  against  him  who  had  been  so  often  their 
deliverer  from  such  various  dangers.  Unable  to  compre- 
hend the  greatness  of  his  mind,  they  openly  accused  the 
Prince  of  Orange  of  having  joined  with  the  French  for 
their  subjugation,  and  of  having  concealed  a  body  of  that 
detested  nation  in  the  citadel.  The  populace  rushed  to  the 
place,  and  having  minutely  examined  it,  were  convinced 
of  their  own  absurdity  and  the  prince's  innocence.  He 
scorned  to  demand  their  punishment  for  such  an  outra- 
geous calumny ;  but  he  was  not  the  less  afflicted  at  it.  He 
took  the  resolution  of  quitting  Flanders,  as  it  turned  out, 
forever;  and  he  retired  into  Zealand,  where  he  was  better 
known  and  consequently  better  trusted. 

In  the  midst  of  the  consequent  confusion  in  the  former 
of  these  provinces,  the  prince  of  Parma,  with  indefatigable 
vigor,  made  himself  master  of  town  after  town ;  and  turned 
his  particular  attention  to  the  creation  of  a  naval  force, 
which  was  greatly  favored  by  the  possession  of  Dunkirk, 
Nieuport,  and  Gravelines.  Native  treachery  was  not  idle 
in  this  time  of  tumult  and  confusion.  The  count  of  Renne- 
berg,  governor  of  Friesland  and  Groningen,  had  set  the 
basest  example,  and  gone  over  to  the  Spaniards.  The 
prince  of  Chimay,  son  of  the  duke  of  Arschot,  and  gov- 
ernor of  Bruges,  yielded  to  the  persuasions  of  his  father, 
and  gave  up  the  place  to  the  prince  of  Parma.  Hembyse 
also,  amply  confirming  the  bad  opinion  in  which  the  Prince 
of  Orange  always  held  him,  returned  to  Ghent,  where  he 
regained  a  great  portion  of  his  former  influence,  and  im- 
mediately commenced  a  correspondence  with  the  prince  of 
Parma,  offering  to  deliver  up  both  Ghent  and  Termonde. 
An  attempt  was  consequently  made  by  the  Spaniards  to 
surprise  the  former  town;  but  the  citizens  were  prepared 
for  this,  having  intercepted  some  of  the  letters  of  Hembyse; 


188  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

and  the  traitor  was  seized,  tried,  condemned,  and  executed 
on  the  4th  of  August,  1584.  He  was  upward  of  seventy 
years  of  age.  Ryhove,  his  celebrated  colleague,  died  in 
Holland  some  years  later. 

But  the  fate  of  so  insignificant  a  person  as  Hembyse 
passed  almost  unnoticed,  in  the  agitation  caused  by  an 
event  which  shortly  preceded  his  death. 

From  the  moment  of  their  abandonment  by  the  duke 
of  Anjou,  the  United  Provinces  considered  themselves  in- 
dependent ;  and  although  they  consented  to  renew  his  au- 
thority over  the  country  at  large,  at  the  solicitation  of  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  they  were  resolved  to  confirm  the  influ- 
ence of  the  latter  over  their  particular  interests,  which  they 
were  now  sensible  could  acquire  stability  only  by  that 
moans.  The  death  of  Anjou  left  them  without  a  sover- 
eign ;  and  they  did  not  hesitate  in  the  choice  which  they 
were  now  called  upon  to  make.  On  whom,  indeed,  could 
they  fix  but  William  of  Nassau,  without  the  utmost  injus- 
tice to  him,  and  the  deepest  injury  to  themselves?  To 
whom  could  they  turn,  in  preference  to  him  who  had  given 
consistency  to  the  early  explosion  of  their  despair;  to  him 
who  first  gave  the  country  political  existence,  then  nursed 
it  into  freedom,  and  now  beheld  it  in  the  vigor  and  prime 
of  independence?  He  had  seen  the  necessity,  but  certainly 
overrated  the  value,  of  foreign  support,  to  enable  the  new 
state  to  cope  with  the  tremendous  tyranny  from  which  it 
had  broken.  He  had  tried  successively  Germany,  England 
and  France.  From  the  first  and  the  last  of  these  powers 
he  had  received  two  governors,  to  whom  he  cheerfully  re- 
signed the  title.  The  incapacity  of  both,  and  the  treachery 
of  the  latter,  proved  to  the  states  that  their  only  chance  for 
safety  was  in  the  consolidation  of  "William's  authority;  and 
they  contemplated  the  noblest  reward  which  a  grateful  na- 
tion could  bestow  on  a  glorious  liberator.  And  is  it  to  be 
believed  that  he  who  for  twenty  years  had  sacrificed  his 
repose,  lavished  his  fortune,  and  risked  his  life,  for  the 
public  cause,  now  aimed  at  absolute  dominion,  or  coveted 


TO    MURDER    OF    PRINCE    OF    ORANGE  189 

a  despotism  which  all  his  actions  prove  him  to  have  ab- 
horred? Defeated  bigotry  has  put  forward  such  vapid  ac- 
cusations. He  has  been  also  held  responsible  for  the  early 
cruelties  which,  it  is  notorious,  he  used  every  means  to 
avert,  and  frequently  punished.  But  while  these  revolting 
acts  can  only  be  viewed  in  the  light  of  reprisals  against 
the  bloodiest  persecution  that  ever  existed,  by  exasperated 
men  driven  to  vengeance  by  a  bad  example,  not  one  single 
act  of  cruelty  or  bad  faith  has  ever  been  made  good  against 
William,  who  may  be  safely  pronounced  one  of  the  wisest 
and  best  men  that  history  has  held  up  as  examples  to  the 
species. 

The  authority  of  one  author  has  been  produced  to  prove 
that,  during  the  lifetime  of  his  brother  Louis,  offers  were 
made  to  him  by  France  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  northern 
provinces,  on  condition  of  the  southern  being  joined  to  the 
French  crown.  That  he  ever  accepted  those  offers  is  with- 
out proof;  that  he  never  acted  on  them  is  certain.  But  he 
might  have  been  justified  in  purchasing  freedom  for  those 
states  which  had  so  well  earned  it,  at  the  price  even  of  a 
qualified  independence  under  another  power,  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  those  which  had  never  heartily  struggled  against 
Spain.  The  best  evidence,  however,  of  "William's  real  views 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Capitulation,  as  it  is  called ;  that  is  to 
say,  the  act  which  was  on  the  point  of  being  executed  be- 
tween him  and  the  states,  when  a  base  fanatic,  instigated 
by  a  bloody  tyrant,  put  a  period  to  his  splendid  career. 
This  capitulation  exists  at  full  length,  but  was  never  for- 
mally executed.  Its  conditions  are  founded  on  the  same 
principles,  and  conceived  in  nearly  the  same  terms,  as 
those  accepted  by  the  duke  of  Anjou ;  and  the  whole  com- 
pact is  one  of  the  most  thoroughly  liberal  that  history  has 
on  record.  The  prince  repaired  to  Delft  for  the  ceremony 
of  his  inauguration,  the  price  of  his  long  labors ;  but  there, 
instead  of  anticipated  dignity,  he  met  the  sudden  stroke  of 
death. 

On  the  10th  of  July,  as  he  left  his  dining-room,  and 


190  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

while  he  placed  his  foot  on  the  first  step  of  the  great  stair 
leading  to  the  upper  apartments  of  his  house,  a  man  named 
Balthazar  Gerard  (who,  like  the  former  assassin,  waited 
for  him  at  the  moment  of  convivial  relaxation),  discharged 
a  pistol  at  his  body.  Three  balls  entered  it.  He  fell  into 
the  arms  of  an  attendant,  and  cried  out  faintly,  in  the 
French  language,  "God  pity  me!  I  am  sadly  wounded — 
God  have  mercy  on  my  soul,  and  on  this  unfortunate  na- 
tion!" His  sister,  the  countess  of  Swartzenberg,  who  now 
hastened  to  his  side,  asked  him  in  German  if  he  did  not 
recommend  his  soul  to  God?  He  answered,  "Yes,"  in  the 
same  language,  but  with  a  feeble  voice.  He  was  carried 
into  the  dining-room,  where  he  immediately  expired.  His 
sister  closed  his  eyes ;  his  wife,  too,  was  on  the  spot — Louisa, 
daughter  of  the  illustrious  Coligny,  and  widow  of  the  gal- 
lant count  of  Teligny,  both  of  whom  were  also  murdered 
almost  in  her  sight,  in  the  frightful  massacre  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew. We  may  not  enter  on  a  description  of  the 
afflicting  scene  which  followed;  but  the  mind  is  pleased 
in  picturing  the  bold  solemnity  with  which  Prince  Maurice, 
then  eighteen  years  of  age,  swore — not  vengeance  or  hatred 
against  his  father's  murderers — but  that  he  would  faithfully 
and  religiously  follow  the  glorious  example  he  had  given 
him. 

Whoever  would  really  enjoy  the  spirit  of  historical  de- 
tails should  never  omit  an  opportunity  of  seeing  places  ren- 
dered memorable  by  associations  connected  with  the  deeds, 
and  especially  with  the  death,  of  great  men;  the  spot,  for 
instance,  where  William  was  assassinated  at  Delft;  the  old 
staircase  he  was  just  on  the  point  of  ascending;  the  narrow 
pass  between  that  and  the  dining-hall  whence  he  came  out, 
of  scarcely  sufficient  extent  for  the  murderer  to  hold  forth 
his  arm  and  his  pistol,  two  and  a  half  feet  long.  This 
weapon,  and  its  fellow,  are  both  preserved  in  the  museum 
of  The  Hague,  together  with  two  of  the  fatal  bullets,  and 
the  very  clothes  which  the  victim  wore.  The  leathern 
doublet,  pierced  by  the  balls  and  burned  by  the  powder, 


TO    MURDER    OF    PRINCE    OF    ORANGE  191 

lies  beside  the  other  parts  of  the  dress,  the  simple  gravity 
of  which,  in  fashion  and  color,  irresistibly  brings  the  wise, 
great  man  before  us,  and  adds  a  hundred-fold  to  the  inter- 
est excited  by  a  recital  of  his  murder. 

There  is  but  one  important  feature  in  the  character  of 
William  which  we  have  hitherto  left  untouched,  but  which 
the  circumstances  of  his  death  seemed  to  sanctify,  and  point 
out  for  record  in  the  same  page  with  it.  We  mean  his  re- 
ligious opinions;  and  we  shall  despatch  a  subject  which  is, 
in  regard  to  all  men,  so  delicate,  indeed  so  sacred,  in  a  few 
words.  He  was  born  a  Lutheran.  When  he  arrived,  a 
boy,  at  the  court  of  Charles  Y.,  he  was  initiated  into  the 
Catholic  creed,  in  which  he  was  thenceforward  brought  up. 
Afterward,  when  he  could  think  for  himself  and  choose  his 
profession  of  faith,  he  embraced  the  doctrine  of  Calvin. 
His  whole  public  conduct  seems  to  prove  that  he  viewed 
sectarian  principles  chiefly  in  the  light  of  political  instru- 
ments; and  that,  himself  a  conscientious  Christian,  in  the 
broad  sense  of  the  term,  he  was  deeply  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  universal  toleration,  and  considered  the  various 
shades  of  belief  as  subservient  to  the  one  grand  principle 
of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  for  which  he  had  long  devoted 
and  at  length  laid  down  his  life.  His  assassin  was  taken 
alive,  and  four  days  afterward  executed  with  terrible  cir- 
cumstances of  cruelty,  which  he  bore  as  a  martyr  might 
have  borne  them.  He  was  a  native  of  Burgundy,  and  had 
for  some  months  lingered  near  his  victim,  and  insinuated 
himself  into  his  confidence  by  a  feigned  attachment  to  lib- 
erty, and  an  apparent  zeal  for  the  reformed  faith.  He  was 
nevertheless  a  bigoted  Catholic  and,  by  his  own  confession, 
he  had  communicated  his  design  to,  and  received  encour- 
agement to  its  execution  from,  more  than  one  minister  of 
the  sect  to  which  he  belonged.  But  his  avowal  criminated 
a  more  important  accomplice,  and  one  whose  character 
stands  so  high  in  history  that  it  behooves  us  to  examine 
thoroughly  the  truth  of  the  accusation,  and  the  nature  of 
the  collateral  proofs  by  which  it  is  supported.  Most  writers 


192  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

on  this  question  have  leaned  to  the  side  which  all  would 
wish  to  adopt,  for  the  honor  of  human  nature  and  the  in- 
tegrity of  a  celebrated  name.  But  an  original  letter  exists 
in  the  archives  of  Brussels,  from  the  prince  of  Parma  him- 
self to  Philip  of  Spain,  in  which  he  admits  that  Balthazar 
Gerard  had  communicated  to  him  his  intention  of  murder- 
ing the  Prince  of  Orange  some  months  before  the  deed  was 
done;  and  he  mixes  phrases  of  compassion  for  "the  poor 
man"  (the  murderer)  and  of  praise  for  the  act;  which,  if 
the  document  be  really  authentic,  sinks  Alexander  of  Parma 
as  low  as  the  wretch  with  whom  he  sympathized. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

TO  THE   DEATH   OF   ALEXANDER,    PRINCE  OF  PARMA 
A.D.   1584—1592 

THE  death  of  William  of  Nassau  not  only  closes  the 
scene  of  his  individual  career,  but  throws  a  deep 
gloom  over  the  history  of  a  revolution  that  was 
sealed  by  so  great  a  sacrifice.  The  animation  of  the  story 
seems  suspended.  Its  events  lose  for  a  time  their  excite- 
ment. The  last  act  of  the  political  drama  is  performed. 
The  great  hero  of  the  tragedy  is  no  more.  The  other  most 
memorable  actors  have  one  by  one  passed  away.  A  whole 
generation  has  fallen  in  the  contest;  and  it  is  with  ex- 
hausted interest,  and  feelings  less  intense,  that  we  resume 
the  details  of  war  and  blood,  which  seem  no  longer  sancti- 
fied by  the  grander  movements  of  heroism.  The  stirring 
impulse  of  slavery  breaking  its  chains  yields  to  the  colder 
inspiration  of  independence  maintaining  its  rights.  The 
men  we  have  now  to  depict  were  born  free;  and  the  deeds 
they  did  were  those  of  stern  resolve  rather  than  of  frantic 
despair.  The  present  picture  may  be  as  instructive  as  the 
last,  but  it  is  less  thrilling.  Passion  gives  place  to  reason ; 
and  that  which  wore  the  air  of  fierce  romance  is  superseded 
by  what  bears  the  stamp  of  calm  reality. 

The  consternation  caused  by  the  news  of  "William's  death 
soon  yielded  to  the  firmness  natural  to  a  people  inured  to 
suffering  and  calamity.  The  United  Provinces  rejected  at 
once  the  overtures  made  by  the  prince  of  Parma  to  induce 
them  to  obedience.  They  seemed  proud  to  show  that  their 
fate  did  not  depend  on  that  of  one  man.  He  therefore 
turned  his  attention  to  the  most  effective  means  of  obtain- 
ing results  by  force  which  he  found  it  impossible  to  secure 
Holland— 9 


194  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

by  persuasion.  He  proceeded  vigorously  to  the  reduction 
of  the  chief  towns  of  Flanders,  the  conquest  of  which  would 
give  him  possession  of  the  entire  province,  no  army  now 
remaining  to  oppose  him  in  the  field.  He  soon  obliged 
Ypres  and  Termonde  to  surrender;  and  Ghent,  forced  by 
famine,  at  length  yielded  on  reasonable  terms.  The  most 
severe  was  the  utter  abolition  of  the  reformed  religion ;  by 
which  a  large  portion  of  the  population  was  driven  to  the 
alternative  of  exile ;  and  they  passed  over  in  crowds  to  Hol- 
land and  Zealand,  not  half  of  the  inhabitants  remaining  be- 
hind. Mechlin,  and  finally  Brussels,  worn  out  by  a  fruit- 
less resistance,  followed  the  example  of  the  rest ;  and  thus, 
within  a  year  after  the  death  of  William  of  Nassau,  the 
power  of  Spain  was  again  established  in  the  whole  province 
of  Flanders,  and  the  others  which  comprise  what  is  in  mod- 
ern days  generally  denominated  Belgium. 

But  these  domestic  victories  of  the  prince  of  Parma  were 
barren  in  any  of  those  results  which  humanity  would  love 
to  see  in  the  train  of  conquest.  The  reconciled  provinces 
presented  the  most  deplorable  spectacle.  The  chief  towns 
were  almost  depopulated.  The  inhabitants  had  in  a  great 
measure  fallen  victims  to  war,  pestilence  and  famine.  Lit- 
tle inducement  existed  to  replace  by  marriage  the  ravages 
caused  by  death,  for  few  men  wished  to  propagate  a  race 
which  divine  wrath  seemed  to  have  marked  for  persecution. 
The  thousands  of  villages  which  had  covered  the  face  of  the 
country  were  absolutely  abandoned  to  the  wolves,  which 
had  so  rapidly  increased  that  they  attacked  not  merely  cat- 
tle and  children,  but  grown-up  persons.  The  dogs,  driven 
abroad  by  hunger,  had  become  as  ferocious  as  other  beasts 
of  prey,  and  joined  in  large  packs  to  hunt  down  brutes  and 
men.  Neither  fields,  nor  woods,  nor  roads,  were  now  to  be 
distinguished  by  any  visible  limits.  All  was  an  entangled 
mass  of  trees,  weeds,  and  grass.  The  prices  of  the  neces- 
saries of  life  were  so  high  that  people  of  rank,  after  selling 
everything  to  buy  bread,  were  obliged  to  have  recourse  to 
open  beggary  in  the  streets  of  the  great  towns. 


TO   DEATH    OF   PRINCE    OF   PARMA  195 

From  this  frightful  picture,  and  the  numerous  details 
which  imagination  may  readily  supply,  we  gladly  turn  to 
the  contrast  afforded  by  the  northern  states.  Those  we 
have  just  described  have  a  feeble  hold  upon  our  sympathies; 
we  cannot  pronounce  their  sufferings  to  be  unmerited.  The 
want  of  firmness  or  enlightenment,  which  preferred  such  an 
existence  to  the  risk  of  entire  destruction,  only  heightens 
the  glory  of  the  people  whose  unyielding  energy  and  cour- 
age gained  them  so  proud  a  place  among  the  independent 
nations  of  Europe. 

The  murder  of  William  seemed  to  carry  to  the  United 
Provinces  conviction  of  the  weakness  as  well  as  the  atrocity 
of  Spain ;  and  the  indecent  joy  excited  among  the  royalists 
added  to  their  courage.  An  immediate  council  was  created, 
composed  of  eighteen  members,  at  the  head  of  which  was 
unanimously  placed  Prince  Maurice  of  Nassau  (who  even 
then  gave  striking  indications  of  talent  and  prudence);  his 
elder  brother,  the  count  of  Beuren,  now  Prince  of  Orange, 
being  still  kept  captive  in  Spain.  Count  Hohenloe  was  ap- 
pointed lieutenant-general ;  and  several  other  measures  were 
promptly  adopted  to  consolidate  the  power  of  the  infant  re- 
public. The  whole  of  its  forces  amounted  but  to  five  thou- 
sand five  hundred  men.  The  prince  of  Parma  had  eighty 
thousand  at  his  command.  With  such  means  of  carrying 
on  his  conquests,  he  sat  down  regularly  before  Antwerp, 
and  commenced  the  operations  of  one  of  the  most  celebrated 
among  the  many  memorable  sieges  of  those  times.  He  com- 
pletely surrounded  the  city  with  troops ;  placing  a  large  por- 
tion of  his  army  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Scheldt,  the  other 
on  the  right ;  and  causing  to  be  attacked  at  the  same  time 
the  two  strong  forts  of  Liefkinshoek  and  Lillo.  Repulsed 
on  the  latter  important  point,  his  only  hope  of  gaining  the 
command  of  the  navigation  of  the  river,  on  which  the  suc- 
cess of  the  siege  depended,  was  by  throwing  a  bridge  across 
the  stream.  Neither  its  great  rapidity,  nor  its  immense 
width,  nor  the  want  of  wood  and  workmen,  could  deter 
him  from  this  vast  undertaking.  He  was  assisted,  if  not 


196  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

guided,  in  all  his  projects  on  the  occasion,  by  Barroccio,  a 
celebrated  Italian  engineer  sent  to  him  by  Philip;  and  the 
merit  of  all  that  was  done  ought  fairly  to  be,  at  least,  di- 
vided between  the  general  and  the  engineer.  If  enterprise 
and  perseverance  belonged  to  the  first,  science  and  skill 
were  the  portion  of  the  latter.  They  first  caused  two  strong 
forts  to  be  erected  at  opposite  sides  of  the  river ;  and  add- 
ing to  their  resources  by  every  possible  means,  they  threw 
forward  a  pier  on  each  side  of,  and  far  into,  the  stream. 
The  stakes,  driven  firmly  into  the  bed  of  the  river  and 
cemented  with  masses  of  earth  and  stones,  were  at  a  proper 
height  covered  with  planks  and  defended  by  parapets. 
These  estoccades,  as  they  were  called,  reduced  the  river 
to  half  its  original  breadth;  and  the  cannon  with  which 
they  were  mounted  rendered  the  passage  extremely  danger- 
ous to  hostile  vessels.  But  to  fill  up  this  strait  a  consider- 
able number  of  boats  were  fastened  together  by  chain-hooks 
and  anchors;  and  being  manned  and  armed  with  cannon, 
they  were  moored  in  the  interval  between  the  estoccades. 
During  these  operations,  a  canal  was  cut  between  the  Moer 
and  Calloo;  by  which  means  a  communication  was  formed 
with  Ghent,  which  insured  a  supply  of  ammunition  and 
provisions.  The  works  of  the  bridge,  which  was  two  thou- 
sand four  hundred  feet  in  length,  were  constructed  with 
such  strength  and  solidity  that  they  braved  the  winds,  the 
floods,  and  the  ice  of  the  whole  winter. 

The  people  of  Antwerp  at  first  laughed  to  scorn  the 
whole  of  these  stupendous  preparations;  but  when  they 
found  that  the  bridge  resisted  the  natural  elements,  by 
which  they  doubted  not  it  would  have  been  destroyed, 
they  began  to  tremble  in  the  anticipation  of  famine;  yet 
they  vigorously  prepared  for  their  defence,  and  rejected 
the  overtures  made  by  the  prince  of  Parma  even  at  this 
advanced  stage  of  his  proceedings.  Ninety-seven  pieces 
of  cannon  now  defended  the  bridge;  besides  which  thirty 
large  barges  at  each  side  of  the  river  guarded  its  extremi- 
ties; and  forty  ships  of  war  formed  a  fleet  of  protection, 


TO    DEATH    OF    PRINCE    OF    PARMA  197 

constantly  ready  to  meet  any  attack  from  the  besieged. 
They,  seeing  the  Scheldt  thus  really  closed  up,  and  all 
communication  with  Zealand  impossible,  felt  their  whole 
safety  to  depend  on  the  destruction  of  the  bridge.  The 
states  of  Zealand  now  sent  forward  an  expedition,  which, 
joined  with  some  ships  from  Lillo,  gave  new  courage  to 
the  besieged ;  and  everything  was  prepared  for  their  great 
attempt.  An  Italian  engineer  named  Giambelli  was  at  this 
time  in  Antwerp,  and  by  his  talents  had  long  protracted 
the  defence.  He  has  the  chief  merit  of  being  the  inventor 
of  those  terrible  fire-ships  which  gained  the  title  of  "infernal 
machines";  and  with  some  of  these  formidable  instruments 
and  the  Zealand  fleet,  the  long-projected  attack  was  at 
length  made. 

Early  on  the  night  of  the  4th  of  April,  the  prince  of 
Parma  and  his  army  were  amazed  by  the  spectacle  of  three 
huge  masses  of  flame  floating  down  the  river,  accompanied 
by  numerous  lesser  appearances  of  a  similar  kind,  and  bear- 
ing directly  against  the  prodigious  barrier,  which  had  cost 
months  of  labor  to  him  and  his  troops,  and  immense  sums 
of  money  to  the  state.  The  whole  surface  of  the  Scheldt 
presented  one  sheet  of  fire;  the  country  all  round  was  as 
visible  as  at  noon ;  the  flags,  the  arms  of  the  soldiers,  and 
every  object  on  the  bridge,  in  the  fleet,  or  the  forts,  stood 
out  clearly  to  view;  and  the  pitchy  darkness  of  the  sky 
gave  increased  effect  to  the  marked  distinctness  of  all.  As- 
tonishment was  soon  succeeded  by  consternation,  when  one 
of  the  three  machines  burst  with  a  terrific  noise  before  they 
reached  their  intended  mark,  but  time  enough  to  offer  a 
sample  of  their  nature.  The  prince  of  Parma,  with  nu- 
merous officers  and  soldiers  rushed  to  the  bridge,  to  wit- 
ness the  effects  of  this  explosion;  and  just  then  a  second 
and  still  larger  fire-ship,  having  burst  through  the  flying 
bridge  of  boats,  struck  against  one  of  the  estoccades.  Alex- 
ander, unmindful  of  danger,  used  every  exertion  of  his  au- 
thority to  stimulate  the  sailors  in  their  attempts  to  clear 
away  the  monstrous  machine  which  threatened  destruction 


198  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

to  all  within  its  reach.  Happily  for  him,  an  ensign  who 
was  near,  forgetting  in  his  general's  peril  all  rules  of  dis- 
cipline and  forms  of  ceremony,  actually  forced  him  from 
the  estoccade.  He  had  not  put  his  foot  on  the  river  bank 
when  the  machine  blew  up.  The  effects  were  such  as 
really  baffle  description.  The  bridge  was  burst  through; 
the  estoccade  was  shattered  almost  to  atoms,  and,  with  all 
that  it  supported — men,  cannon,  and  the  huge  machinery 
employed  in  the  various  works — dispersed  in  the  air.  The 
cruel  marquis  of  Roubais,  many  other  officers,  and  eight 
hundred  soldiers,  perished  in  all  varieties  of  death — by 
flood,  or  flame,  or  the  horrid  wounds  from  the  missiles 
with  which  the  terrible  machine  was  overcharged.  Frag- 
ments of  bodies  and  limbs  were  flung  far  and  wide;  and 
many  gallant  soldiers  were  destroyed,  without  a  vestige  of 
the  human  form  being  left  to  prove  that  they  had  ever  ex- 
isted. The  river,  forced  from  its  bed  at  either  side,  rushed 
into  the  forts  and  drowned  numbers  of  their  garrisons; 
while  the  ground  far  beyond  shook  as  in  an  earthquake. 
The  prince  was  struck  down  by  a  beam,  and  lay  for  some 
time  senseless,  together  with  two  generals,  Delvasto  and 
Gajitani,  both  more  seriously  wounded  than  he ;  and  many 
of  the  soldiers  were  burned  and  mutilated  in  the  most 
frightful  manner.  Alexander  soon  recovered;  and  by  his 
presence  of  mind,  humanity,  and  resolution,  he  endeavored 
with  incredible  quickness  to  repair  the  mischief,  and  raised 
the  confidence  of  his  army  as  high  as  ever.  Had  the  Zea- 
land fleet  come  in  time  to  the  spot,  the  whole  plan  might 
have  been  crowned  with  success;  but  by  some  want  of  con- 
cert, or  accidental  delay,  it  did  not  appear;  and  conse- 
quently the  beleaguered  town  received  no  relief. 

One  last  resource  was  left  to  the  besieged;  that  which 
had  formerly  been  resorted  to  at  Leyden,  and  by  which  the 
place  was  saved.  To  enable  them  to  inundate  the  immense 
plain  which  stretched  between  Lillo  and  Strabrock  up  to 
the  walls  of  Antwerp,  it  was  necessary  to  cut  through  the 
dike  which  defended  it  against  the  irruptions  of  the  eastern 


TO    DEATH    OF    PRINCE    OF    PARMA  199 

Scheldt.  This  plain  was  traversed  by  a  high  and  wide 
counter-dike,  called  the  dike  of  Couvestien;  and  Alexan- 
der, knowing  its  importance,  had  early  taken  possession  of 
and  strongly  defended  it  by  several  forts.  Two  attacks 
were  made  by  the  garrison  of  Antwerp  on  this  important 
construction;  the  latter  of  which  led  to  one  of  the  most 
desperate  encounters  of  the  war.  The  prince,  seeing  thai 
on  the  results  of  this  day  depended  the  whole  consequences 
of  his  labors,  fought  with  a  valor  that  even  he  had  never 
before  displayed,  and  he  was  finally  victorious.  The  con- 
federates were  forced  to  abandon  the  attack,  leaving  three 
thousand  dead  upon  the  dike  or  at  its  Dase ;  and  the  Span- 
iards lost  full  eight  hundred  men. 

One  more  fruitless  attempt  was  made  to  destroy  the 
bridge  and  raise  the  siege,  by  means  of  an  enormous  ves- 
sel bearing  the  presumptuous  title  of  The  End  of  the  War. 
But  this  floating  citadel  ran  aground,  without  producing  any 
effect ;  and  the  gallant  governor  of  Antwerp,  the  celebrated 
Philip  de  Saint  Aldegonde,  was  forced  to  capitulate  on  the 
16th  of  August,  after  a  siege  of  fourteen  months.  The  re- 
duction of  Antwerp  was  considered  a  miracle  of  persever- 
ance and  courage.  The  prince  of  Parma  was  elevated  by 
his  success  to  the  highest  pinnacle  of  renown;  and  Philip, 
on  receiving  the  news,  displayed  a  burst  of  joy  such  as 
rarely  varied  his  cold  and  gloomy  reserve. 

Even  while  the  fate  of  Antwerp  was  undecided,  the 
United  Provinces,  seeing  that  they  were  still  too  weak  to 
resist  alone  the  undivided  force  of  the  Spanish  monarchy, 
had  opened  negotiations  with  France  and  England  at  once, 
in  the  hope  of  gaining  one  or  the  other  for  an  ally  and  pro- 
tector. Henry  III.  gave  a  most  honorable  reception  to  the 
ambassadors  sent  to  his  court,  and  was  evidently  disposed  to 
accept  their  offers,  had  not  the  distracted  state  of  his  own 
country,  still  torn  by  civil  war,  quite  disabled  him  from  any 
effective  co-operation.  The  deputies  sent  to  England  were 
also  well  received.  Elizabeth  listened  to  the  proposals  of 
the  states,  sent  them  an  ambassador  in  return,  and  held  out 


200  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

the  most  flattering  hopes  of  succor.  But  her  cautious  policy 
would  not  suffer  her  to  accept  the  sovereignty ;  and  she  de- 
clared that  she  would  in  nowise  interfere  with  the  negotia- 
tions, which  might  end  in  its  being  accepted  by  the  king  of 
France.  She  gave  prompt  evidence  of  her  sincerity  by  an 
advance  of  considerable  sums  of  money,  and  by  sending  t 
Holland  a  body  of  six  thousand  troops,  under  the  commanu 
of  her  favorite,  Robert  Dudley,  earl  of  Leicester;  and  as 
security  for  the  repayment  of  her  loan,  the  towns  of  Flush- 
ing and  Brille,  and  the  castle  of  Rammekins,  were  given  up 
to  her. 

The  earl  of  Leicester  was  accompanied  by  a  splendid 
retinue  of  noblemen,  and  a  select  troop  of  five  hundred  fol- 
lowers. He  was  received  at  Flushing  by  the  governor,  Sir 
Philip  Sidney,  his  nephew,  the  model  of  manners  and  con- 
duct for  the  young  men  of  his  day.  But  Leicester  possessed 
neither  courage  nor  capacity  equal  to  the  trust  reposed  in 
him ;  and  his  arbitrary  and  indolent  conduct  soon  disgusted 
the  people  whom  he  was  sent  to  assist.  They  had,  in  the 
first  impulse  of  their  gratitude,  given  him  the  title  of  gov- 
ernor and  captain-general  of  the  provinces,  in  the  hope  of 
flattering  Elizabeth.  But  this  had  a  far  contrary  effect: 
she  was  equally  displeased  with  the  states  and  with  Leices- 
ter; and  it  was  with  difficulty  that,  after  many  humble 
submissions,  they  were  able  to  appease  her. 

To  form  a  counterpoise  to  the  power  so  lavishly  con- 
ferred on  Leicester,  Prince  Maurice  was,  according  to  the 
wise  advice  of  Olden  Barnevelt,  raised  to  the  dignity  oi 
stadtholder,  captain-general,  and  admiral  of  Holland  and 
Zealand.  This  is  the  first  instance  of  these  states  taking 
on  themselves  the  nomination  to  the  dignity  of  stadtholder, 
for  even  William  has  held  his  commission  from  Philip,  or 
in  his  name;  but  Friesland,  Groningen,  and  Guelders  had 
already  appointed  their  local  governors,  under  the  same 
title,  by  the  authority  of  the  states-general,  the  archduke 
Mathias,  or  even  of  the  provincial  states.  Holland  had  now 
also  at  the  head  of  its  civil  government  a  citizen  full  of  tal- 


TO    DEATH    OF   PRINCE    OF    PARMA  201 

ent  and  probity,  who  was  thus  able  to  contend  with  the  in- 
sidious designs  of  Leicester  against  the  liberty  he  nominally 
came  to  protect.  This  was  Barnevelt,  who  was  promoted 
from  his  office  of  pensionary  of  Rotterdam  to  that  of  Hol- 
land, and  who  accepted  the  dignity  only  on  condition  of 
being  free  to  resign  it  if  any  accommodation  of  difference? 
should  take  place  with  Spain. 

Alexander  of  Parma  had,  by  the  death  of  his  mother,  in 
February,  1586,  exchanged  his  title  of  prince  for  the  supe- 
rior one  of  duke  of  Parma,  and  soon  resumed  his  enterprises 
with  his  usual  energy  and  success ;  various  operations  took 
place,  in  which  the  English  on  every  opportunity  distin- 
guished themselves ;  particularly  in  an  action  near  the  town 
of  Grave,  in  Brabant;  and  in  the  taking  of  Axel  by  esca- 
lade, under  the  orders  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney.  A  more  impor- 
tant affair  occurred  near  Zutphen,  at  a  place  called  Warns* 
feld,  both  of  which  towns  have  given  names  to  the  action. 
On  this  occasion  the  veteran  Spaniards,  under  the  marquis 
of  Guasto,  were  warmly  attacked  and  completely  defeated 
by  the  English ;  but  the  victory  was  dearly  purchased  by  the 
death  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  who  was  mortally  wounded  in 
the  thigh,  and  expired  a  few  days  afterward,  at  the  early 
age  of  thirty-two  years.  In  addition  to  the  valor,  talent, 
and  conduct,  which  had  united  to  establish  his  fame,  he 
displayed,  on  this  last  opportunity  of  his  short  career,  an 
instance  of  humanity  that  sheds  a  new  lustre  on  even  a 
character  like  his.  Stretched  on  the  battlefield,  in  all  the 
agony  of  his  wound,  and  parched  with  thirst,  his  afflicted 
followers  brought  him  some  water,  procured  with  difficulty 
at  a  distance,  and  during  the  heat  of  the  fight.  But  Sidney, 
seeing  a  soldier  lying  near,  mangled  like  himself,  and  ap- 
parently expiring,  refused  the  water,  saying,  "Give  it  to 
that  poor  man;  his  sufferings  are  greater  than  mine." 

Leicester's  conduct  was  now  become  quite  intolerable  to 
the  states.  His  incapacity  and  presumption  were  every  day 
more  evident  and  more  revolting.  He  seemed  to  consider 
himself  in  a  province  wholly  reduced  to  English  authority, 


202  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

and  paid  no  sort  of  attention  to  the  very  opposite  character 
of  the  people.  An  eminent  Dutch  author  accounts  for  this, 
in  terms  which  may  make  an  Englishman  of  this  age  not  a 
little  proud  of  the  contrast  which  his  character  presents  to 
what  it  was  then  considered.  "The  Englishman,"  says 
Grotius,  "obeys  like  a  slave,  and  governs  like  a  tyrant; 
while  the  Belgian  knows  how  to  serve  and  to  command 
with  equal  moderation."  The  dislike  between  Leicester 
and  those  he  insulted  and  misgoverned  soon  became  mu- 
tual. He  retired  to  the  town  of  Utrecht;  and  pushed  his 
injurious  conduct  to  such  an  extent  that  he  became  an  ob- 
ject of  utter  hatred  to  the  provinces.  All  the  friendly  feel- 
ings toward  England  were  gradually  changed  into  suspi- 
cion and  dislike.  Conferences  took  place  at  The  Hague 
between  Leicester  and  the  states,  in  which  Barnevelt  over- 
whelmed his  contemptible  shuffling  by  the  force  of  irresisti- 
ble eloquence  and  well-deserved  reproaches;  and  after 
new  acts  of  treachery,  still  more  odious  than  his  former, 
this  unworthy  favorite  at  last  set  out  for  England,  to 
lay  an  account  of  his  government  at  the  feet  of  the 
queen. 

The  growing  hatred  against  England  was  fomented  by 
the  true  patriots,  who  aimed  at  the  liberty  of  their  country ; 
and  may  be  excused,  from  the  various  instances  of  treach- 
ery displayed,  not  only  by  the  commander-in-chief,  but  by 
several  of  his  inferiors  in  command.  A  strong  fort,  near 
Zutphen,  under  the  government  of  Roland  York,  the  town 
of  Deventer,  under  that  of  "William  Stanly,  and  subse- 
quently Guelders,  under  a  Scotchman  named  Pallot,  were 
delivered  up  to  the  Spaniards  by  these  men ;  and  about  the 
same  time  the  English  cavalry  committed  some  excesses  in 
Guelders  and  Holland,  which  added  to  the  prevalent  preju- 
dice against  the  nation  in  general.  This  enmity  was  no 
longer  to  be  concealed.  The  partisans  of  Leicester  were, 
one  by  one,  under  plausible  pretexts,  removed  from  the 
council  of  state ;  and  Elizabeth  having  required  from  Hol- 
land the  exportation  into  England  of  a  large  quantity  of 


TO  DEATH  OF  PRINCE  OF  PARMA        203 

rye,  it  was  firmly  but  respectfully  refused,  as  inconsistent 
with  the  wants  of  the  provinces. 

Prince  Maurice,  from  the  caprice  and  jealousy  of  Leices- 
ter, now  united  in  himself  the  whole  power  of  command, 
and  commenced  that  brilliant  course  of  conduct  which  con- 
solidated the  independence  of  his  country  and  elevated  him 
to  the  first  rank  of  military  glory.  His  early  efforts  were 
turned  to  the  suppression  of  the  partiality  which  in  some 
places  existed  for  English  domination ;  and  he  never  allowed 
himself  to  be  deceived  by  the  hopes  of  peace  held  out  by  the 
emperor  and  the  kings  of  Denmark  and  Poland.  "Without 
refusing  their  mediation,  he  labored  incessantly  to  organize 
every  possible  means  for  maintaining  the  war.  His  efforts 
were  considerably  favored  by  the  measures  of  Philip  for  the 
support  of  the  league  formed  by  the  House  of  Guise  against 
Henry  III.  and  Henry  IV.  of  France;  but  still  more  by  the 
formidable  enterprise  which  the  Spanish  monarch  was  now 
preparing  against  England. 

Irritated  and  mortified  by  the  assistance  which  Elizabeth 
had  given  to  the  revolted  provinces,  Philip  resolved  to  em- 
ploy his  whole  power  in  attempting  the  conquest  of  England 
itself;  hoping  afterward  to  effect  with  ease  the  subjugation 
of  the  Netherlands.  He  caused  to  be  built,  in  almost  every 
port  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  galleons,  carricks,  and  other 
ships  of  war  of  the  largest  dimensions;  and  at  the  same 
time  gave  orders  to  the  duke  of  Parma  to  assemble  in  the 
harbors  of  Flanders  as  many  vessels  as  he  could  collect 
together. 

The  Spanish  fleet,  consisting  of  more  than  one  hun- 
dred and  forty  ships  of  the  line,  and  manned  by  twenty 
thousand  sailors,  assembled  at  Lisbon  under  the  orders  of 
the  duke  of  Medina  Sidonia;  while  the  duke  of  Parma, 
uniting  his  forces,  held  himself  ready  on  the  coast  of  Flan- 
ders, with  an  army  of  thirty  thousand  men  and  four  hun- 
dred transports.  This  prodigious  force  obtained,  in  Spain, 
the  ostentatious  title  of  the  Invincible  Armada.  Its  desti- 
nation was  for  a  while  attempted  to  be  concealed,  under 


204  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

pretext  that  it  was  meant  for  India,  or  for  the  annihilation 
of  the  United  Provinces;  but  the  mystery  was  soon  discov- 
ered. At  the  end  of  May,  the  principal  fleet  sailed  from  the 
port  of  Lisbon ;  and  being  reinforced  off  Corunna  by  a  con- 
siderable squadron,  the  whole  armament  steered  its  course 
for  the  shores  of  England. 

The  details  of  the  progress  and  the  failure  of  this  cele- 
brated attempt  are  so  thoroughly  the  province  of  English 
history  that  they  would  be  in  this  place  superfluous.  But 
\t  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  glory  of  the  proud  result 
was  amply  shared  by  the  new  republic,  whose  existence  de- 
pended on  it.  While  Howard  and  Drake  held  the  British 
fleet  in  readiness  to  oppose  the  Spanish  Armada,  that  of  Hol- 
land, consisting  of  but  twenty-five  ships,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Justin  of  Nassau,  prepared  to  take  a  part  in  the 
conflict.  This  gallant  though  illegitimate  scion  of  the  illus- 
trious house,  whose  name  he  upheld  on  many  occasions, 
proved  himself  on  the  present  worthy  of  such  a  father  as 
William,  and  such  a  brother  as  Maurice.  While  the  duke 
of  Medina  Sidonia,  ascending  the  Channel  as  far  as  Dunkirk, 
there  expected  the  junction  of  the  duke  of  Parma  with  his 
important  reinforcement,  Justin  of  Nassau,  by  a  constant 
activity,  and  a  display  of  intrepid  talent,  contrived  to  block 
up  the  whole  expected  force  in  the  ports  of  Flanders  from 
Lillo  to  Dunkirk.  The  duke  of  Parma  found  it  impossible 
to  force  a  passage  on  any  one  point ;  and  was  doomed  to  the 
mortification  of  knowing  that  the  attempt  was  frustrated, 
and  the  whole  force  of  Spain  frittered  away,  discomfited, 
and  disgraced,  from  the  want  of  a  co-operation,  which  he 
could  not,  however,  reproach  himself  for  having  withheld. 
The  issue  of  the  memorable  expedition,  which  cost  Spain 
years  of  preparation,  thousands  of  men,  and  millions  of 
treasure,  was  received  in  the  country  which  sent  it  forth 
with  consternation  and  rage.  Philip  alone  possessed  or 
affected  an  apathy  which  he  covered  with  a  veil  of  mock 
devotion  that  few  were  deceived  by.  At  the  news  of  the 
disaster,  he  fell  on  his  knees,  and  rendering  thanks  for  that 


TO  DEATH  OF  PRINCE  OF  PARMA        205 

gracious  dispensation  of  Providence,  expressed  his  joy  that 
the  calamity  was  not  greater. 

The  people,  the  priests,  and  the  commanders  of  the  ex- 
pedition were  not  so  easily  appeased,  or  so  clever  as  their 
hypocritical  master  in  concealing  their  mortification.  The 
priests  accounted  for  this  triumph  of  heresy  as  a  punishment 
on  Spain  for  suffering  the  existence  of  the  infidel  Moors  in 
some  parts  of  the  country.  The  defeated  admirals  threw 
the  whole  blame  on  the  duke  of  Parma.  He,  on  his  part, 
sent  an  ample  remonstrance  to  the  king;  and  Philip  de- 
clared that  he  was  satisfied  with  the  conduct  of  his  nephew. 
Leicester  died  four  days  after  the  final  defeat  and  dispersion 
of  the  Armada. 

The  war  in  the  Netherlands  had  been  necessarily  suf- 
fered to  languish,  while  every  eye  was  fixed  on  the  progress 
of  the  Armada,  from  formation  to  defeat.  But  new  efforts 
were  soon  made  by  the  duke  of  Parma  to  repair  the  time 
he  had  lost,  and  soothe,  by  his  successes,  the  disappointed 
pride  of  Spain.  Several  officers  now  came  into  notice,  re- 
markable for  deeds  of  great  gallantry  and  skill.  None 
among  those  was  so  distinguished  as  Martin  Schenck,  a 
soldier  of  fortune,  a  man  of  ferocious  activity,  who  began 
his  career  in  the  service  of  tyranny,  and  ended  it  by  chance 
in  that  of  independence.  He  changed  sides  several  times, 
but,  no  matter  who  he  fought  for,  he  did  his  duty  well, 
from  that  unconquerable  principle  of  pugnacity  which 
seemed  to  make  his  sword  a  part  of  himself. 

Schenck  had  lately,  for  the  last  time,  gone  over  to  the 
side  of  the  states,  and  had  caused  a  fort  to  be  built  in  the 
isle  of  Betewe — that  possessed  of  old  by  the  Batavians — 
which  was  called  by  his  name,  and  was  considered  the  key 
to  the  passage  of  the  Rhine.  From  this  stronghold  he  con- 
stantly harassed  the  archbishop  of  Cologne,  and  had  as  his 
latest  exploit  surprised  and  taken  the  strong  town  of  Bonn. 
While  the  duke  of  Parma  took  prompt  measures  for  the 
relief  of  the  prelate,  making  himself  master  in  the  mean- 
time of  some  places  of  strength,  the  indefatigable  Schenck 


206  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

resolved  to  make  an  attempt  on  the  important  town  of 
Nimeguen.  He  with  great  caution  embarked  a  chosen 
body  of  troops  on  the  "Wahal,  and  arrived  under  the  walls 
of  Nimeguen  at  sunrise  on  the  morning  chosen  for  the  at- 
tack. His  enterprise  seemed  almost  crowned  with  success; 
when  the  inhabitants,  recovering  from  their  fright,  precipi- 
tated themselves  from  the  town;  forced  the  assailants  to 
retreat  to  their  boats;  and,  carrying  the  combat  into  those 
overcharged  and  fragile  vessels,  upset  several,  and  among 
others  that  which  contained  Schenck  himself,  who,  covered 
with  wounds,  and  fighting  to  the  last  gasp,  was  drowned 
with  the  greater  part  of  his  followers.  His  body,  when 
recovered,  was  treated  with  the  utmost  indignity,  quar- 
tered, and  hung  in  portions  over  the  different  gates  of 
the  city. 

The  following  year  was  distinguished  by  another  daring 
attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Hollanders,  but  followed  by  a 
different  result.  A  captain  named  Haranguer  concerted 
with  one  Adrien  Vandenberg  a  plan  for  the  surprise  of 
Breda,  on  the  possession  of  which  Prince  Maurice  had  set 
a  great  value.  The  associates  contrived  to  conceal  in  a 
boat  laden  with  turf  (which  formed  the  principal  fuel  of 
the  inhabitants  of  that  part  of  the  country),  and  of  which 
Vandenberg  was  master,  eighty  determined  soldiers,  and 
succeeded  in  arriving  close  to  the  city  without  any  sus- 
picion being  excited.  One  of  the  soldiers,  named  Matthew 
Helt,  being  suddenly  affected  *with  a  violent  cough,  im- 
plored his  comrades  to  put  him  to  death,  to  avoid  the  risk 
of  a  discovery.  But  a  corporal  of  the  city  guard  having 
inspected  the  cargo  with  unsuspecting  carelessness,  the  im- 
molation of  the  brave  soldier  became  unnecessary,  and  the 
boat  was  dragged  into  the  basin  by  the  assistance  of  some 
of  the  very  garrison  who  were  so  soon  to  fall  victims  to  the 
stratagem.  At  midnight  the  concealed  soldiers  quitted 
their  hiding-places,  leaped  on  shore,  killed  the  sentinels, 
and  easily  became  masters  of  the  citadel.  Prince  Maurice, 
following  close  with  his  army,  soon  forced  the  town  to  sub-  > 


TO  DEATH  OF  PRINCE  OF  PARMA        207 

mit,  and  put  it  into  so  good  a  state  of  defence  that  Count 
Mansfield,  who  was  sent  to  retake  it,  was  obliged  to  retreat 
after  useless  efforts  to  fulfil  his  mission. 

The  duke  of  Parma,  whose  constitution  was  severely  in- 
jured by  the  constant  fatigues  of  war  and  the  anxieties 
attending  on  the  late  transactions,  had  snatched  a  short 
interval  for  the  purpose  of  recruiting  his  health  at  the 
waters  of  Spa.  While  at  that  place  he  received  urgent 
orders  from  Philip  to  abandon  for  a  while  all  his  proceed- 
ings in  the  Netherlands,  and  to  hasten  into  France  with  his 
whole  disposable  force,  to  assist  the  army  of  the  League. 
The  battle  of  Yvri  (in  which  the  son  of  the  unfortunate 
Count  Egmont  met  his  death  while  fighting  in  the  service 
of  his  father's  royal  murderer)  had  raised  the  prospects  and 
hopes  of  Henry  IV.  to  a  high  pitch;  and  Paris,  which  he 
closely  besieged,  was  on  the  point  of  yielding  to  his  arms. 
The  duke  of  Parma  received  his  uncle's  orders  with  great 
repugnance;  and  lamented  the  necessity  of  leaving  the  field 
of  his  former  exploits  open  to  the  enterprise  and  talents  of 
Prince  Maurice.  He  nevertheless  obeyed;  and  leaving 
Count  Mansfield  at  the  head  of  the  government,  he  con- 
ducted his  troops  against  the  royal  opponent,  who  alone 
seemed  fully  worthy  of  coping  with  him. 

The  attention  of  all  Europe  was  now  fixed  on  the  excit- 
ing spectacle  of  a  contest  between  these  two  greatest  cap- 
tains of  the  age.  The  glory  of  success,  the  fruit  of  con- 
summate skill,  was  gained  by  Alexander;  who,  by  an 
admirable  manoeuvre,  got  possession  of  the  town  of  Lagny- 
sur- Seine,  under  the  very  eyes  of  Henry  and  his  whole 
army,  and  thus  acquired  the  means  of  providing  Paris  with 
everything  requisite  for  its  defence.  The  French  monarch 
saw  all  his  projects  baffled,  and  his  hopes  frustrated ;  while 
his  antagonist,  having  fully  completed  his  object,  drew  off 
his  army  through  Champagne,  and  made  a  fine  retreat 
through  an  enemy's  country,  harassed  at  every  step,  but 
with  scarcely  any  loss. 

But  while  this  expedition  added  greatly  to  the  renown 


208  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

of  the  general,  it  considerably  injured  the  cause  of  Spain 
in  the  Low  Countries.  Prince  Maurice,  taking  prompt  ad- 
vantage of  the  absence  of  his  great  rival,  had  made  himself 
master  of  several  fortresses;  and  some  Spanish  regiments 
having  mutinied  against  the  commanders  left  behind  by 
the  duke  of  Parma,  others,  encouraged  by  the  impunity 
they  enjoyed,  were  ready  on  the  slightest  pretext  to  follow 
their  example.  Maurice  did  not  lose  a  single  opportunity 
of  profiting  by  circumstances  so  favorable ;  and  even  after 
the  return  of  Alexander  he  seized  on  Zutphen,  Deventer, 
and  Nimeguen,  despite  all  the  efforts  of  the  Spanish  army. 
The  duke  of  Parma,  daily  breaking  down  under  the  prog- 
ress of  disease,  and  agitated  by  these  reverses,  repaired 
again  to  Spa,  taking  at  once  every  possible  means  for  the 
recruitment  of  his  army  and  the  recovery  of  his  health, 
on  which  its  discipline  and  the  chances  of  success  now  so 
evidently  depended. 

But  all  his  plans  were  again  frustrated  by  a  renewal  of 
Philip's  peremptory  orders  to  march  once  more  into  France, 
to  uphold  the  failing  cause  of  the  League  against  the  intre- 
pidity and  talent  of  Henry  IV.  At  this  juncture  the  em- 
peror Rodolf  again  offered  his  mediation  between  Spain  and 
the  United  Provinces.  But  it  was  not  likely  that  the  con- 
federated States,  at  the  very  moment  when  their  cause  be- 
gan to  triumph,  and  their  commerce  was  every  day  becom- 
ing more  and  more  flourishing,  would  consent  to  make  any 
compromise  with  the  tyranny  they  were  at  length  in  a  fair 
way  of  crushing. 

The  duke  of  Parma  again  appeared  in  France  in  the 
beginning  of  the  year  1592;  and,  having  formed  his  com- 
munications with  the  army  of  the  League,  marched  to  the 
relief  of  the  city  of  Rouen,  at  that  period  pressed  to  the 
last  extremity  by  the  Huguenot  forces.  After  some  sharp 
skirmishes — and  one  in  particular,  in  which  Henry  IV. 
suffered  his  valor  to  lead  him  into  a  too  rash  exposure  of 
his  own  and  his  army's  safety — a  series  of  manoeuvres  took 
place,  which  displayed  the  talents  of  the  rival  generals  in 


TO    DEATH    OF    PRINCE    OF    PARMA  209 

the  most  brilliant  aspect.  Alexander  at  length  succeeded 
in  raising  the  siege  of  Rouen,  and  made  himself  master  of 
Condebec,  which  commanded  the  navigation  of  the  Seine. 
Henry,  taking  advantage  of  what  appeared  an  irreparable 
fault  on  the  part  of  the  duke,  invested  his  army  in  the 
hazardous  position  he  had  chosen;  but  while  believing 
that  he  had  the  whole  of  his  enemies  in  his  power,  he 
found  that  Alexander  had  passed  the  Seine  with  his  entire 
force — raising  his  military  renown  to  the  utmost  possible 
height  by  a  retreat  which  it  was  deemed  utterly  impossible 
to  effect. 

On  his  return  to  the  Netherlands,  the  duke  found  him- 
self again  under  the  necessity  of  repairing  to  Spa,  in  search 
of  some  relief  from  the  suffering  which  was  considerably 
increased  by  the  effects  of  a  wound  received  in  this  last 
campaign.  In  spite  of  his  shattered  constitution,  he  main- 
tained to  the  latest  moment  the  most  active  endeavors  for 
the  reorganization  of  his  army ;  and  he  was  preparing  for 
a  new  expedition  into  France,  when,  fortunately  for  the 
good  cause  in  both  countries,  he  was  surprised  by  death  on 
the  3d  of  December,  1592,  at  the  abbey  of  St.  Vaast,  near 
Arras,  at  the  age  of  forty-seven  years.  As  it  was  hard  to 
imagine  that  Philip  would  suffer  any  one  who  had  excited 
his  jealousy  to  die  a  natural  death,  that  of  the  duke  of 
Parma  was  attributed  to  slow  poison. 

Alexander  of  Parma  was  certainly  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable, and,  it  may  be  added,  one  of  the  greatest,  char- 
acters of  his  day.  Most  historians  have  upheld  him  even 
higher  perhaps  than  he  should  be  placed  on  the  scale;  as- 
serting that  he  can  be  reproached  with  very  few  of  the 
vices  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived.  Others  consider  this 
judgment  too  favorable,  and  accuse  him  of  participation 
in  all  the  crimes  of  Philip,  whom  he  served  so  zealously. 
His  having  excited  the  jealousy  of  the  tyrant,  or  even  had 
he  been  put  to  death  by  his  orders,  would  little  influence 
the  question;  for  Philip  was  quite  capable  of  ingratitude 
or  murder,  to  either  an  accomplice  or  an  opponent  of  his 


210  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS 

baseness.  But  even  allowing  that  Alexander's  fine  quali- 
ties were  sullied  by  his  complicity  in  these  odious  meas- 
ures, we  must  still  in  justice  admit  that  they  were  too 
much  in  the  spirit  of  the  times,  and  particularly  of  the 
school  in  which  he  was  trained ;  and  while  we  lament 
that  his  political  or  private  faults  place  him  on  so  low 
a  level,  we  must  rank  him  as  one  of  the  very  first  masters 
in  the  art  of  war  in  his  own  or  any  other  aga 


CHAPTER  XIV 

TO  THE  INDEPENDENCE    OF   BELGIUM  AND  THE    DEATH 
OF    PHILIP  II. 

A.D.   1592—1599 

THE  duke  of  Parma  had  chosen  the  count  of  Mans- 
field for  his  successor,  and  the  nomination  was  ap- 
proved by  the  king.  He  entered  on  his  government 
under  most  disheartening  circumstances.  The  rapid  con« 
quests  of  Prince  Maurice  in  Brabant  and  Flanders  were 
scarcely  less  mortifying  than  the  total  disorganization  into 
which  those  two  provinces  had  fallen.  They  were  ravaged 
by  bands  of  robbers  called  Picaroons,  whose  audacity  reached 
such  a  height  that  they  opposed  in  large  bodies  the  forces 
sent  for  their  suppression  by  the  government.  They  on  one 
occasion  killed  the  provost  of  Flanders,  and  burned  his  lieu- 
tenant in  a  hollow  tree ;  and  on  another  they  mutilated  a 
whole  troop  of  the  national  militia,  and  their  commander, 
with  circumstances  of  most  revolting  cruelty. 

The  authority  of  governor-general,  though  not  the  title. 
was  now  fully  shared  by  the  count  of  Fuentes,  who  was 
sent  to  Brussels  by  the  king  of  Spain;  and  the  ill  effects  of 
this  double  viceroyalty  was  soon  seen,  in  the  brilliant  prog- 
ress of  Prince  Maurice,  and  the  continual  reverses  sustained 
by  the  royalist  armies.  The  king,  still  bent  on  projects  of 
bigotry,  sacrificed  without  scruple  men  and  treasure  for  the 
overthrow  of  Henry  IV.  and  the  success  of  the  League. 
The  affairs  of  the  Netherlands  seemed  now  a  secondary 
object ;  and  he  drew  largely  on  his  forces  in  that  country 
for  reinforcements  to  the  ranks  of  his  tottering  allies.  A 
final  blow  was,  however,  struck  against  the  hopes  of  in- 
tolerance in  France,  and  to  the  existence  of  the  League, 
by  the  conversion  of  Henry  IV.  to  the  Catholic  religion; 

(211) 


212  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

he  deeming  theological  disputes,  which  put  the  happiness 
of  a  whole  kingdom  in  jeopardy,  as  quite  subordinate  to 
the  public  good. 

Such  was  the  prosperity  of  the  United  Provinces,  that 
they  had  been  enabled  to  send  a  large  supply,  both  of  money 
and  men,  to  the  aid  of  Henry,  their  constant  and  generous 
ally.  And  notwithstanding  this,  their  armies  and  fleets,  so 
far  from  suffering  diminution,  were  augmented  day  by  day. 
Philip,  resolved  to  summon  up  all  his  energy  for  the  revival 
of  the  war  against  the  republic,  now  appointed  the  archduke 
Ernest,  brother  of  the  emperor  Rodolf,  to  the  post  which 
the  disunion  of  Mansfield  and  Fuentes  rendered  as  embar- 
rassing as  it  had  become  inglorious.  This  prince,  of  a  gentle 
and  conciliatory  character,  was  received  at  Brussels  with 
great  magnificence  and  general  joy;  his  presence  reviving 
the  deep-felt  hopes  of  peace  entertained  by  the  suffering 
people.  Such  were  also  the  cordial  wishes  of  the  prince; 
but  more  than  one  design,  formed  at  this  period  against  the 
life  of  Prince  Maurice,  frustrated  every  expectation  of  the 
kind.  A  priest  of  the  province  of  Namur,  named  Michael 
Renichon,  disguised  as  a  soldier,  was  the  new  instrument 
meant  to  strike  another  blow  at  the  greatness  of  the  House 
of  Nassau,  in  the  person  of  its  gallant  representative,  Prince 
Maurice;  as  also  in  that  of  his  brother,  Frederic  Henry, 
then  ten  years  of  age.  On  the  confession  of  the  intended 
assassin,  he  was  employed  by  Count  Berlaimont  to  murder 
the  two  princes.  Renichon  happily  mismanaged  the  affair, 
and  betrayed  his  intention.  He  was  arrested  at  Breda,  con- 
ducted to  The  Hague,  and  there  tried  and  executed  on  the 
3d  of  June,  1594.  This  miserable  wretch  accused  the  arch- 
duke Ernest  of  having  countenanced  his  attempt ;  but  noth- 
ing whatever  tends  to  criminate,  while  every  probability 
acquits,  that  prince  of  such  a  participation. 

In  this  same  year  a  soldier  named  Peter  Dufour  em- 
barked in  a  like  atrocious  plot.  He,  too,  was  seized  and 
executed  before  he  could  carry  it  into  effect;  and  to  his 
dying  hour  persisted  in  accusing  the  archduke  of  being  his 


TO   THE   INDEPENDENCE   OF   BELGIUM  213 

instigator.  But  neither  the  judges  who  tried,  nor  the  best 
historians  who  record,  his  intended  crime,  gave  any  belief  to 
this  accusation.  The  mild  and  honorable  disposition  of  the 
prince  held  a  sufficient  guarantee  against  its  likelihood ;  and 
it  is  not  less  pleasing  to  be  able  fully  to  join  in  the  prevalent 
opinion,  than  to  mark  a  spirit  of  candor  and  impartiality 
break  forth  through  the  mass  of  bad  and  violent  passions 
which  crowd  the  records  of  that  age. 

But  all  the  esteem  inspired  by  the  personal  character  of 
Ernest  could  not  overcome  the  repugnance  of  the  United 
Provinces  to  trust  to  the  apparent  sincerity  of  the  tyrant  in 
whose  name  he  made  his  overtures  for  peace.  They  were 
all  respectfully  arid  firmly  rejected;  and  Prince  Maurice,  in 
the  meantime,  with  his  usual  activity,  passed  the  Meuse 
and  the  Rhine,  and  invested  and  quickly  took  the  town  of 
Groningen,  by  which  he  consummated  the  establishment 
of  the  republic,  and  secured  its  rank  among  the  principal 
powers  of  Europe. 

The  archduke  Ernest,  finding  all  his  efforts  for  peace 
frustrated,  and  all  hopes  of  gaining  his  object  by  hostility 
to  be  vain,  became  a  prey  to  disappointment  and  regret,  and 
died,  from  the  effects  of  a  slow  fever,  on  the  21st  of  Febru- 
ary, 1595;  leaving  to  the  count  of  Fuentes  the  honors  and 
anxieties  of  the  government,  subject  to  the  ratification  of 
the  king.  This  nobleman  began  the  exercise  of  his  tem- 
porary functions  by  an  irruption  into  France,  at  the  head 
of  a  small  army ;  war  having  been  declared  against  Spain 
by  Henry  IV.,  who,  on  his  side,  had  despatched  the  Ad- 
miral de  Villars  to  attack  Philip's  possessions  in  Hainault 
and  Artois.  This  gallant  officer  lost  a  battle  and  his  life 
in  the  contest;  and  Fuentes,  encouraged  by  the  victory, 
took  some  frontier  towns,  and  laid  siege  to  Cambray,  the 
great  object  of  his  plans.  The  citizens,  who  detested  their 
governor,  the  marquis  of  Bologni,  who  had  for  some  time 
assumed  an  independent  tyranny  over  them,  gave  up  the 
place  to  the  besiegers;  and  the  citadel  surrendered  some 
days  later.  After  this  exploit  Fuentes  returned  to  Brussels* 


SH  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

where,  notwithstanding  his  success,  he  was  extremely  un- 
popular. He  had  placed  a  part  of  his  forces  under  the  com- 
mand of  Mondragon,  one  of  the  oldest  and  cleverest  officers 
in  the  service  of  Spain.  Some  trifling  affairs  took  place  in 
Brabant;  but  the  arrival  of  the  archduke  Albert,  whom 
the  king  had  appointed  to  succeed  his  brother  Ernest  in  the 
office  of  governor-general,  deprived  Fuentes  of  any  further 
opportunity  of  signalizing  his  talents  for  supreme  command. 
Albert  arrived  at  Brussels  on  the  llth  of  February,  1596, 
accompanied  by  the  Prince  of  Orange,  who,  when  count  of 
Beuren,  had  been  carried  off  from  the  university  of  Lou- 
yaip  twenty-eight  years  previously,  and  held  captive  in 
Spain,  during  the  whole  of  that  period. 

Tha  archduke  Albert,  fifth  son  of  the  emperor  Maxi- 
milian II.,  and  brother  of  Rodolf,  stood  high  in  the  opinion 
of  Philip,  his  uncle,  and  merited  his  reputation  for  talents, 
bravery,  and  prudence.  He  had  been  early  made  arch- 
bishop of  Toledo,  and  afterward  cardinal;  but  his  profes- 
sion was  not  that  of  these  nominal  dignities.  He  was  a 
warrior  and  politician  of  considerable  capacity;  and  had 
for  some  years  faithfully  served  the  king,  as  viceroy  of 
Portugal.  But  Philip  meant  him  for  the  more  independ- 
ent situation  of  sovereign  of  the  Netherlands,  and  at  the 
same  time  destined  him  to  be  the  husband  of  his  daughter 
Isabella.  He  now  sent  him,  in  the  capacity  of  governor- 
general,  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  important  change;  at 
once  to  gain  the  good  graces  of  the  people,  and  soothe,  by 
this  removal  from  Philip's  too  close  neighborhood,  the 
jealousy  of  his  son,  the  hereditary  prince  of  Spain.  Albert 
brought  with  him  to  Brussels  a  small  reinforcement  for  the 
army,  with  a  large  supply  of  money,  more  wanting  at  this 
conjuncture  than  men.  He  highly  praised  the  conduct  of 
Fuentes  in  the  operations  just  finished;  and  resolved  to 
continue  the  war  on  the  same  plan,  but  with  forces  much 
superior. 

He  opened  his  first  campaign  early;  and,  by  a  display  of 
clever  manoBuvring,  which  threatened  an  attempt  to  force 


TO    THE    INDEPENDENCE    OF    BELGIUM  215 

the  French  to  raise  the  siege  of  La  Fere,  in  the  heart  of 
Picardy,  he  concealed  his  real  design — the  capture  of  Calais; 
and  he  succeeded  in  its  completion  almost  before  it  was  sus- 
pected. The  Spanish  and  Walloon  troops,  led  on  by  Rone, 
a  distinguished  officer,  carried  the  first  defences :  after  nine 
days  of  siege  the  place  was  forced  to  surrender;  and  in  a 
few  more  the  citadel  followed  the  example.  The  archduke 
soon  after  took  the  towns  of  Ardres  and  Hulst;  and  by 
prudently  avoiding  a  battle,  to  which  he  was  constantly 
provoked  by  Henry  IV.,  who  commanded  the  French  army 
in  person,  he  established  his  character  for  military  talent  of 
no  ordinary  degree. 

He  at  the  same  time  made  overtures  of  reconciliation  to 
the  United  Provinces,  and  hoped  that  the  return  of  the 
Prince  of  Orange  would  be  a  means  of  effecting  so  desir- 
able a  purpose.  But  the  Dutch  were  not  to  be  deceived  by 
the  apparent  sincerity  of  Spanish  negotiation.  They  even 
doubted  the  sentiments  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  whose 
attachments  and  principles  had  been  formed  in  so  hated  a 
school ;  and  nothing  passed  between  them  and  him  but  mu- 
tual civilities.  They  clearly  evinced  their  disapprobation 
of  his  intended  visit  to  Holland ;  and  he  consequently  fixed 
his  residence  in  Brussels,  passing  his  life  in  an  inglorious 
neutrality. 

A  naval  expedition  formed  in  this  year  by  the  English 
and  Dutch  against  Cadiz,  commanded  by  the  earl  of  Essex, 
and  Counts  Louis  and  William  of  Nassau,  cousins  of  Prince 
Maurice,  was  crowned  with  brilliant  success,  and  somewhat 
consoled  the  provinces  for  the  contemporary  exploits  of  the 
archduke.  But  the  following  year  opened  with  an  affair 
which  at  once  proved  his  unceasing  activity,  and  added 
largely  to  the  reputation  of  his  rival,  Prince  Maurice.  The 
former  had  detached  the  count  of  Varas,  with  about  six 
thousand  men,  for  the  purpose  of  invading  the  province  of 
Holland ;  but  Maurice,  with  equal  energy  and  superior  tal- 
ent, followed  his  movements,  came  up  with  him  near  Turn- 
hout,  on  the  24th  of  January,  1597;  and  after  a  sharp  ac- 


216  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS 

tion,  of  which  the  Dutch  cavalry  bore  the  whole  brunt, 
Varas  was  killed,  and  his  troops  defeated  with  considerable 
loss. 

This  action  may  be  taken  as  a  fair  sample  of  the  diffi- 
culty with  which  any  estimate  can  be  formed  of  the  rela- 
tive losses  on  such  occasions.  The  Dutch  historians  state 
the  loss  of  the  royalists,  in  killed,  at  upward  of  two  thou 
sand.  Meteren,  a  good  authority,  says  the  peasants  buriea 
two  thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty;  while  Bentivoglio,  an 
Italian  writer  in  the  interest  of  Spain,  makes  the  number 
exactly  half  that  amount.  Grotius  says  that  the  loss  of  the 
Dutch  was  four  men  killed.  Bentivoglio  states  it  at  one 
hundred.  But,  at  either  computation,  it  is  clear  that  the 
affair  was  a  brilliant  one  on  the  part  of  Prince  Maurice. 

This  was  in  its  consequences  a  most  disastrous  affair  to 
the  archduke.  His  army  was  disorganized,  and  his  finances 
exhausted ;  while  the  confidence  of  the  states  in  their  troops 
and  their  general  was  considerably  raised.  But  the  taking 
of  Amiens  by  Portocarrero,  one  of  the  most  enterprising  of 
the  Spanish  captains,  gave  a  new  turn  to  the  failing  fort- 
unes of  Albert.  This  gallant  officer,  whose  greatness  of 
mind,  according  to  some  historians,  was  much  dispropor- 
tioned  to  the  smallness  of  his  person,  gained  possession  of 
that  important  town  by  a  well-conducted  stratagem,  and 
maintained  his  conquest  valiantly  till  he  was  killed  in  its 
defence.  Henry  IV.  made  prodigious  efforts  to  recover  the 
place,  the  chief  bulwark  on  that  side  of  France ;  and  having 
forced  Montenegro,  the  worthy  successor  of  Portocarrero,  to 
capitulate,  granted  him  and  his  garrison  most  honorable 
conditions.  Henry,  having  secured  Amiens  against  any 
new  attack,  returned  to  Paris  and  made  a  triumphal  entry 
into  the  city. 

During  this  year  Prince  Maurice  took  a  number  of  towns 
in  rapid  succession;  and  the  states,  according  to  their  cus- 
tom, caused  various  medals,  in  gold,  silver,  and  copper,  to 
be  struck,  to  commemorate  the  victories  which  had  signal- 
ized their  arms. 


TO  THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  BELGIUM 

Philip  II.,  feeling  himself  approaching  the  termination 
of  his  long  and  agitating  career,  now  wholly  occupied  him- 
self in  negotiations  for  peace  with  France.  Henry  IV.  de- 
sired it  as  anxiously.  The  pope,  Clement  VIII. ,  encouraged 
by  his  exhortations  this  mutual  inclination.  The  king  of 
Poland  sent  ambassadors  to  The  Hague  and  to  London,  to 
induce  the  states  and  Queen  Elizabeth  to  become  parties  ir 
a  general  pacification.  These  overtures  led  to  no  conclu- 
sion; but  the  conferences  between  France  and  Spain  went 
on  with  apparent  cordiality  and  great  promptitude,  and  a 
peace  was  concluded  between  these  powers  at  Vervins,  on 
the  3d  of  May,  1598. 

Shortly  after  the  publication  of  this  treaty,  another  im- 
portant act  was  made  known  to  the  world,  by  which  Philip 
ceded  to  Albert  and  Isabella,  on  their  being  formally  affi- 
anced— a  ceremony  which  now  took  place — the  sovereignty 
of  Burgundy  and  the  Netherlands.  This  act  bears  date  the 
6th  of  May,  and  was  proclaimed  with  all  the  solemnity  due 
to  so  important  a  transaction.  It  contained  thirteen  arti- 
cles ;  and  was  based  on  the  misfortunes  which  the  absence 
of  the  sovereign  had  hitherto  caused  to  the  Low  Countries. 
The  Catholic  religion  was  declared  that  of  the  state,  in  its 
full  integrity.  The  provinces  were  guaranteed  against  dis- 
memberment. The  archdukes,  by  which  title  the  joint  sov- 
ereigns were  designated  without  any  distinction  of  sex,  were 
secured  in  the  possession,  with  right  of  succession  to  their 
children ;  and  a  provision  was  added,  that  in  default  of  pos- 
terity their  possessions  should  revert  to  the  Spanish  crown. 
The  infanta  Isabella  soon  sent  her  procuration  to  the  arch- 
duke, her  affianced  husband,  giving  him  full  power  and 
authority  to  take  possession  of  the  ceded  dominions  in  her 
name  as  in  his  own ;  and  Albert  was  inaugurated  with  great 
pomp  at  Brussels,  on  the  22d  of  August.  Having  put  every- 
thing in  order  for  the  regulation  of  the  government  during 
his  absence,  he  set  out  for  Spain  for  the  purpose  of  accom- 
plishing his  spousals,  and  bringing  back  his  bride  to  the 

chief  seat  of  their  joint  power.     But  before  his  departure 
Holland. — 10 


218  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

he  wrote  to  the  various  states  of  the  republic,  and  to  Prince 
Maurice  himself,  strongly  recommending  submission  and 
reconciliation.  These  letters  received  no  answer;  a  new 
plot  against  the  life  of  Prince  Maurice,  by  a  wretched  indi- 
vidual named  Peter  Pann,  having  aroused  the  indignation 
of  the  country,  and  determined  it  to  treat  with  suspicion 
and  contempt  every  insidious  proposition  from  the  tyranny 
it  defied. 

Albert  placed  his  uncle,  the  cardinal  Andrew  of  Aus- 
tria, at  the  head  of  the  temporary  government,  and  set 
out  on  his  journey ;  taking  the  little  town  of  Halle  in  his 
route,  and  placing  at  the  altar  of  the  Virgin,  who  is  there 
held  in  particular  honor,  his  cardinal's  hat  as  a  token  of 
his  veneration.  He  had  not  made  much  progress  when  he 
received  accounts  of  the  demise  of  Philip  II.,  who  died, 
after  long  suffering,  and  with  great  resignation,  on  the 
13th  of  September,  1598,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two.  Al- 
bert was  several  months  on  his  journey  through  Germany; 
and  the  ceremonials  of  his  union  with  the  infanta  did  not 
take  place  till  the  18th  of  April,  1599,  when  it  was  finally 
solemnized  in  the  city  of  Valencia  in  Spain. 

This  transaction,  by  which  the  Netherlands  were  posi- 
tively erected  into  a  separate  sovereignty,  seems  naturally 
to  make  the  limits  of  another  epoch  in  their  history.  It 
completely  decided  the  division  between  the  northern  and 
southern  provinces,  which,  although  it  had  virtually  taken 
place  long  previous  to  this  period,  could  scarcely  be  con- 
sidered as  formally  consummated  until  now.  Here  then 
we  shall  pause  anew,  and  take  a  rapid  review  of  the  social 
state  of  the  Netherlands  during  the  last  half  century,  which 
was  beyond  all  doubt  the  most  important  period  of  their 
history,  from  the  earliest  times  till  the  present. 

It  has  been  seen  that  when  Charles  V.  resigned  his 
throne  and  the  possession  of  his  vast  dominions  to  his  son, 
arts,  commerce,  and  manufactures  had  risen  to  a  state  of 
considerable  perfection  throughout  the  Netherlands.  The 
revolution,  of  which  we  have  traced  the  rise  and  progress, 


TO   THE    INDEPENDENCE    OF    BELGIUM  219 

naturally  produced  to  those  provinces  which  relapsed  into 
slavery  a  most  lamentable  change  in  every  branch  of  in- 
dustry, and  struck  a  blow  at  the  general  prosperity,  the 
effects  of  which  are  felt  to  this  very  day.  Arts,  science, 
and  literature  were  sure  to  be  checked  and  withered  in 
the  blaze  of  civil  war ;  and  we  have  now  to  mark  th®  retro- 
grade movements  of  most  of  those  charms  and  advantages 
of  civilized  life,  in  which  Flanders  and  the  other  southern 
states  were  so  rich. 

The  rapid  spread  of  enlightenment  on  religious  subjects 
soon  converted  the  manufactories  and  workshops  of  Flan- 
ders into  so  many  conventicles  of  reform ;  and  the  clear- 
sighted artisans  fled  in  thousands  from  the  tyranny  of 
Alva  into  England,  Germany,  and  Holland — those  happier 
countries,  where  the  government  adopted  and  went  hand 
in  hand  with  the  progress  of  rational  belief.  Commerce 
followed  the  fate  of  manufactures.  The  foreign  merchants 
one  by  one  abandoned  the  theatre  of  bigotry  and  persecu- 
tion; and  even  Antwerp,  which  had  succeeded  Bruges  as 
the  great  mart  of  European  traffic,  was  ruined  by  the  hor- 
rible excesses  of  the  Spanish  soldiery,  and  never  recovered 
from  the  shock.  Its  trade,  its  wealth,  and  its  prosperity, 
were  gradually  transferred  to  Amsterdam,  Rotterdam,  and 
the  towns  of  Holland  and  Zealand;  and  the  growth  of 
Dutch  commerce  attained  its  proud  maturity  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  India  Company  in  1596,  the  effects  of  which 
we  shall  have  hereafter  more  particularly  to  dwell  on. 

The  exciting  and  romantic  enterprises  of  the  Portuguese 
and  Spanish  navigators  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  cent- 
uries roused  all  the  ardor  of  other  nations  for  those  distant 
adventures;  and  the  people  of  the  Netherlands  were  early 
influenced  by  the  general  spirit  of  Europe.  If  they  were 
not  the  discoverers  of  new  worlds,  they  were  certainly  the 
first  to  make  the  name  of  European  respected  and  vener- 
ated by  the  natives. 

Animated  by  the  ardor  which  springs  from  the  spirit 
of  freedom  and  the  enthusiasm  of  success,  the  United 


220  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

Provinces  labored  for  the  discovery  of  new  outlets  for 
their  commerce  and  navigation.  The  government  en- 
couraged the  speculations  of  individuals,  which  promised 
fresh  and  fertile  sources  of  revenue,  so  necessary  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  war.  Until  the  year  1581  the  mer- 
chants of  Holland  and  Zealand  were  satisfied  to  find  the 
productions  of  India  at  Lisbon,  which  was  the  mart  of 
that  branch  of  trade  ever  since  the  Portuguese  discovered 
the  passage  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  But  Philip  II., 
having  conquered  Portugal,  excluded  the  United  Provinces 
from  the  ports  of  that  country;  and  their  enterprising 
mariners  were  from  that  period  driven  to  those  efforts 
which  rapidly  led  to  private  fortune  and  general  prosper- 
ity. The  English  had  opened  the  way  in  this  career;  and 
the  states-general  having  offered  a  large  reward  for  the 
discovery  of  a  northwest  passage,  frequent  and  most  ad- 
venturous voyages  took  place.  Houtman,  Le  Maire, 
Heemskirk,  Ryp,  and  others,  became  celebrated  for  their 
enterprise,  and  some  for  their  perilous  and  interesting 
adventures. 

The  United  Provinces  were  soon  without  any  rival  on 
the  seas.  In  Europe  alone  they  had  one  thousand  two 
hundred  merchant  ships  in  activity,  and  upward  of  sev- 
enty thousand  sailors  constantly  employed.  They  built 
annually  two  thousand  vessels.  In  the  year  1598,  eighty 
ships  sailed  from  their  ports  for  the  Indies  or  America. 
They  carried  on,  besides,  an  extensive  trade  on  the  coast 
of  Guinea,  whence  they  brought  large  quantities  of  gold- 
dust;  and  found,  in  short,  in  all  quarters  of  the  globe  the 
reward  of  their  skill,  industry,  and  courage. 

The  spirit  of  conquest  soon  became  grafted  on  the  hab- 
its of  trade.  Expedition  succeeded  to  expedition.  Failure 
taught  wisdom  to  those  who  did  not  want  bravery.  The 
random  efforts  of  individuals  were  succeeded  by  organized 
plans,  under  associations  well  constituted  and  wealthy ;  and 
these  soon  gave  birth  to  those  eastern  and  western  com- 
panies before  alluded  to.  The  disputes  between  the  En- 


TO   THE    INDEPENDENCE    OF   BELGIUM  221 

glish  and  the  Hanseatic  towns  were  carefully  observed  by 
the  Dutch,  and  turned  to  their  own  advantage.  The  En- 
glish manufacturers,  who  quickly  began  to  flourish,  from 
the  influx  of  Flemish  workmen  under  the  encouragement 
of  Elizabeth,  formed  companies  in  the  Netherlands,  and 
sent  their  cloths  into  those  very  towns  of  Germany  which 
formerly  possessed  the  exclusive  privilege  of  their  manu- 
facture. These  towns  naturally  felt  dissatisfied,  and  their 
complaints  were  encouraged  by  the  king  of  Spain.  The 
English  adventurers  received  orders  to  quit  the  empire; 
and,  invited  by  the  states-general,  many  of  them  fixed 
their  residence  in  Middleburg,  which  became  the  most 
celebrated  woollen  market  in  Europe. 

The  establishment  of  the  Jews  in  the  towns  of  the  re- 
public forms  a  remarkable  epoch  in  the  annals  of  trade. 
This  people,  so  outraged  by  the  loathsome  bigotry  which 
Christians  have  not  blushed  to  call  religion,  so  far  from 
being  depressed  by  the  general  persecution,  seemed  to  find 
it  a  fresh  stimulus  to  the  exertion  of  their  industry.  To 
escape  death  in  Spain  and  Portugal  they  took  refuge  in 
Holland,  where  toleration  encouraged  and  just  principles 
of  state  maintained  them.  They  were  at  first  taken  for 
Catholics,  and  subjected  to  suspicion;  but  when  their  real 
faith  was  understood  they  were  no  longer  molested. 

Astronomy  and  geography,  two  sciences  so  closely  al- 
lied with  and  so  essential  to  navigation,  flourished  now 
throughout  Europe.  Ortilius  of  Antwerp,  and  Gerard 
Mercator  of  flupelmonde,  were  two  of  the  greatest  geog- 
raphers of  the  sixteenth  century;  and  the  reform  in  the 
calendar  at  the  end  of  that  period  gave  stability  to  the  cal- 
culations of  time,  which  had  previously  suffered  all  the 
inconvenient  fluctuations  attendant  on  the  old  style. 

Literature  had  assumed  during  the  revolution  in  the 
Netherlands  the  almost  exclusive  and  repulsive  aspect  of 
controversial  learning.  The  university  of  Douay,  installed 
in  1562  as  a  new  screen  against  the  piercing  light  of  re- 
form, quickly  became  the  stronghold  of  intolerance.  That 


HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

of  Leyden,  established  by  the  efforts  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  soon  after  the  famous  siege  of  that  town  in 
1574,  was  on  a  less  exclusive  plan — its  professors  being 
in  the  first  instance  drawn  from  Germany.  Many  Flem- 
ish historians  succeeded  in  this  century  to  the  ancient  and 
uncultivated  chroniclers  of  preceding  times;  the  civil  wars 
drawing  forth  many  writers,  who  recorded  what  they  wit- 
nessed, but  often  in  a  spirit  of  partisanship  and  want  of 
candor,  which  seriously  embarrasses  him  who  desires  to 
learn  the  truth  on  both  sides  of  an  important  question. 
Poetry  declined  and  drooped  in  these  times  of  tumult  and 
suffering;  and  the  chambers  of  rhetoric,  to  which  its  cul- 
tivation had  been  chiefly  due,  gradually  lost  their  influence, 
and  finally  ceased  to  exist. 

In  fixing  our  attention  on  the  republic  of  the  United 
Provinces  during  the  epoch  now  completed,  we  feel  the 
desire,  and  lament  the  impossibility,  of  entering  on  the  de- 
tails of  government  in  that  most  remarkable  state.  For 
these  we  must  refer  to  what  appears  to  us  the  best  author- 
ity for  clear  and  ample  information  on  the  prerogative  of 
the  stadtholder,  the  constitution  of  the  states-general,  the 
privileges  of  the  tribunals  and  local  assemblies,  and  other 
points  of  moment  concerning  the  principles  of  the  Belgic 
confederation.  * 

1  See  Cerisier,  Hist.  Gen.  dea  Prov.  Unies. 


CHAPTER    XV 

TO  THE   CAMPAIGN  OF  PRINCE    MAURICE   AND    SPINOLA 
A.D.  1599-1604 

PREVIOUS  to  his  departure  for  Spain,  the  archduke 
Albert  had  placed  the  government  of  the  provinces 
which  acknowledged  his  domination  in  the  hands  of 
his  uncle,  the  cardinal  Andrew  of  Austria,  leaving  in  com- 
mand of  the  army  Francisco  Mendoza,  admiral  of  Aragon. 
The  troops  at  his  disposal  amounted  to  twenty-two  thousand 
fighting  men — a  formidable  force,  and  enough  to  justify 
the  serious  apprehensions  of  the  republic.  Albert,  whose 
finances  were  exhausted  by  payments  made  to  the  numerous 
Spanish  and  Italian  mutineers,  had  left  orders  with  Mendoza 
to  secure  some  place  on  the  Rhine,  which  might  open  a 
passage  for  free  quarters  in  the  enemy's  country.  But  this 
unprincipled  officer  forced  his  way  into  the  neutral  districts 
of  Cleves  and  Westphalia ;  and  with  a  body  of  executioners 
ready  to  hang  up  all  who  might  resist,  and  of  priests  to 
prepare  them  for  death,  he  carried  such  terror  on  his  march 
that  no  opposition  was  ventured.  The  atrocious  cruelties 
of  Mendoza  and  his  troops  baffle  all  description:  on  one 
occasion  they  murdered,  in  cold  blood,  the  count  of  Walken- 
stein,  who  surrendered  his  castle  on  the  express  condition 
of  his  freedom ;  and  they  committed  every  possible  excess 
that  may  be  imagined  of  ferocious  soldiery  encouraged  by 
a  base  commander. 

Prince  Maurice  soon  put  into  motion,  to  oppose  this 
army  of  brigands,  his  small  disposable  force  of  about  seven 
thousand  men.  With  these,  however,  and  a  succession  of 
masterly  manoeuvres,  he  contrived  to  preserve  the  rprniblic 


224  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

from  invasion,  and  to  paralyze  and  almost  destroy  an  army 
three  times  superior  in  numbers  to  his  own.  The  horrors 
committed  by  the  Spaniards,  in  the  midst  of  peace,  and 
without  the  slightest  provocation,  could  not  fail  to  excite 
the  utmost  indignation  in  a  nation  so  fond  of  liberty  and  so 
proud  as  Germany.  The  duchy  of  Cleves  felt  particularly 
aggrieved ;  and  Sybilla,  the  sister  of  the  duke,  a  real  heroine 
in  a  glorious  cause,  so  worked  on  the  excited  passions  of  the 
people  by  her  eloquence  and  her  tears  that  she  persuaded 
all  the  orders  of  the  state  to  unite  against  the  odious  enemy. 
Some  troops  were  suddenly  raised;  and  a  league  was  formed 
between  several  princes  of  the  empire  to  revenge  the  com- 
mon cause.  The  count  de  la  Lippe  was  chosen  general  of 
their  united  forces;  and  the  choice  could  not  have  fallen 
on  one  more  certainly  incapable  or  more  probably  treach- 
erous. 

The  German  army,  with  their  usual  want  of  activity, 
did  not  open  the  campaign  till  the  month  of  June.  It  con- 
sisted of  fourteen  thousand  men;  and  never  was  an  army 
so  badly  conducted.  Without  money,  artillery,  provisions, 
or  discipline,  it  was  at  any  moment  ready  to  break  up  and 
abandon  its  incompetent  general ;  and  on  the  very  first  en- 
counter with  the  enemy,  and  after  a  loss  of  a  couple  of  hun- 
dred men,  it  became  self-disbanded;  and,  flying  in  every 
direction,  not  a  single  man  could  be  rallied  to  clear  away 
this  disgrace. 

The  states-general,  cruelly  disappointed  at  this  result  of 
measures  from  which  they  had  looked  for  so  important  a 
diversion  in  their  favor,  now  resolved  on  a  vigorous  exer- 
tion of  their  own  energies,  and  determined  to  undertake  a 
naval  expedition  of  a  magnitude  greater  than  any  they  had 
hitherto  attempted.  The  force  of  public  opinion  was  at  this 
period  more  powerful  than  it  had  ever  yet  been  in  the  United 
Provinces ;  for  a  great  number  of  the  inhabitants,  who,  dur- 
ing the  life  of  Philip  II. ,  conscientiously  believed  that  they 
could  not  lawfully  abjure  the  authority  once  recognized  and 
sworn  to,  became  now  liberated  from  those  respectable,  al- 


TO    CAMPAIGN    OF    MAURICE    AND    SPINOLA 

though  absurd,  scruples;  and  the  death  of  one  unfeeling 
despot  gave  thousands  of  new  citizens  to  the  state. 

A  fleet  of  seventy-three  vessels,  carrying  eight  thousand 
men,  was  soon  equipped,  under  the  order  of  Admiral  Van- 
der  Goes;  and,  after  a  series  of  attempts  on  the  coasts  of 
Spain,  Portugal,  Africa,  and  the  Canary  Isles,  this  expedi- 
tion, from  which  the  most  splendid  results  were  expected, 
was  shattered,  dispersed,  and  reduced  to  nothing  by  a  suc- 
cession of  unheard-of  mishaps. 

To  these  disappointments  were  now  added  domestic  dis- 
sensions in  the  republic,  in  consequence  of  the  new  taxes 
absolutely  necessary  for  the  exigencies  of  the  state.  The 
conduct  of  Queen  Elizabeth  greatly  added  to  the  general 
embarrassment:  she  called  for  the  payment  of  her  former 
loans ;  insisted  on  the  recall  of  the  English  troops,  and  de- 
clared her  resolution  to  make  peace  with  Spain.  Several 
German  princes  promised  aid  in  men  and  money,  but  never 
furnished  either;  and  in  this  most  critical  juncture,  Henry 
IV.  was  the  only  foreign  sovereign  who  did  not  abandon 
the  republic.  He  sent  them  one  thousand  Swiss  troops, 
whom  he  had  in  his  pay ;  allowed  them  to  levy  three  thou- 
sand more  in  France ;  and  gave  them  a  loan  of  two  hun- 
dred thousand  crowns — a  very  convenient  supply  in  their 
exhausted  state. 

The  archdukes  Albert  and  Isabella  arrived  in  the  Nether- 
lands in  September,  and  made  their  entrance  into  Brussels 
with  unexampled  magnificence.  They  soon  found  them- 
selves in  a  situation  quite  as  critical  as  was  that  of  the 
United  Provinces,  and  both  parties  displayed  immense 
energy  to  remedy  their  mutual  embarrassments.  The 
winter  was  extremely  rigorous;  so  much  so  as  to  allow 
of  military  operations  being  undertaken  on  the  ice.  Prince 
Maurice  soon  commenced  a  Christmas  campaign  by  taking 
the  town  of  Wachtendenck ;  and  he  followed  up  his  success 
by  obtaining  possession  of  the  important  forts  of  Crevecosur 
and  St.  Andrew,  in  the  island  of  Bommel.  A  most  dan- 
gerous mutiny  at  the  same  time  broke  out  in  the  army  of 


HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

the  archdukes;  and  Albert  seemed  left  without  troops  or 
money  at  the  very  beginning  of  his  sovereignty. 

But  these  successes  of  Prince  Maurice  were  only  the 
prelude  to  an  expedition  of  infinitely  more  moment,  ar- 
ranged with  the  utmost  secrecy,  and  executed  with  an 
energy  scarcely  to  be  looked  for  from  the  situation  of  the 
states.  This  was  nothing  less  than  an  invasion  poured  into 
the  very  heart  of  Flanders,  thus  putting  the  archdukes  on 
the  defence  of  their  own  most  vital  possessions,  and  chang- 
ing completely  the  whole  character  of  the  war.  The  whole 
disposable  troops  of  the  republic,  amounting  to  about  seven- 
teen thousand  men,  were  secretly  assembled  in  the  island  of 
Walcheren,  in  the  month  of  June ;  and  setting  sail  for  Flan- 
ders, they  disembarked  near  Ghent,  and  arrived  on  the  20th 
of  that  month  under  the  walls  of  Bruges.  Some  previous 
negotiations  with  that  town  had  led  the  prince  to  expect 
that  it  would  have  opened  its  gates  at  his  approach.  In 
this  he  was,  however,  disappointed;  and  after  taking  pos- 
session of  some  forts  in  the  neighborhood,  he  continued 
his  march  to  Nieuport,  which  place  he  invested  on  the  1st 
of  July. 

At  the  news  of  this  invasion  the  archdukes,  though 
taken  by  surprise,  displayed  a  promptness  and  decision 
that  proved  them  worthy  of  the  sovereignty  which  seemed 
at  stake.  With  incredible  activity  they  mustered,  in  a  few 
days,  an  army  of  twelve  thousand  men,  which  they  passed 
in  review  near  Ghent.  On  this  occasion  Isabella,  proving 
her  title  to  a  place  among  those  heroic  women  with  whom 
the  age  abounded,  rode  through  the  royalist  ranks,  and 
harangued  them  in  a  style  of  inspiring  eloquence  that  in- 
flamed their  courage  and  secured  their  fidelity.  Albert, 
seizing  the  moment  of  this  excitement,  put  himself  at  their 
head,  and  marched  to  seek  the  enemy,  leaving  his  intrepid 
wife  at  Bruges,  the  nearest  town  to  the  scene  of  the  action 
he  was  resolved  on.  He  gained  possession  of  all  the  forts 
taken  and  garrisoned  by  Maurice  a  few  days  before ;  and 
pushing  forward  with  his  apparently  irresistible  troops,  he 


TO   CAMPAIGN    OF   MAURICE    AND   SPINOLA          227 

came  up  on  the  morning  of  the  2d  of  July  with  a  large 
body  of  those  of  the  states,  consisting  of  about  three  thou- 
sand men,  sent  forward  under  the  command  of  Count  Ernest 
of  Nassau  to  reconnoitre  and  judge  of  the  extent  of  this  most 
unexpected  movement :  for  Prince  Maurice  was,  in  his  turn, 
completely  surprised;  and  not  merely  by  one  of  those  ma- 
noeuvres of  war  by  which  the  best  generals  are  sometimes 
deceived,  but  by  an  exertion  of  political  vigor  and  capacity 
of  which  history  offers  few  more  striking  examples.  Such 
a  circumstance,  however,  served  only  to  draw  forth  a  fresh 
display  of  those  uncommon  talents  which  in  so  many  vari- 
ous accidents  of  war  had  placed  Maurice  on  the  highest 
rank  for  military  talent.  The  detachment  under  Count 
Ernest  of  Nassau  was  chiefly  composed  of  Scottish  infan- 
try ;  and  this  small  force  stood  firmly  opposed  to  the  im- 
petuous attack  of  the  whole  royalist  army — thus  giving 
time  to  the  main  body  under  the  prince  to  take  up  a  posi- 
tion, and  form  in  order  of  battle.  Count  Ernest  was  at 
length  driven  back,  with  the  loss  of  eight  hundred  men 
killed,  almost  all  Scottish ;  and  being  cut  off  from  the  rest 
of  the  army,  was  forced  to  take  refuge  in  Ostend,  which 
town  was  in  possession  of  the  troops  of  the  states. 

The  army  of  Albert  now  marched  on,  flushed  with  this 
first  success  and  confident  of  final  victory.  Prince  Maurice 
received  them  with  the  courage  of  a  gallant  soldier  and  the 
precaution  of  a  consummate  general.  He  had  caused  the 
fleet  of  ships  of  war  and  transports,  which  had  sailed  along 
the  coast  from  Zealand,  and  landed  supplies  of  ammunition 
and  provisions,  to  retire  far  from  the  shore,  so  as  to  leave 
to  his  army  no  chance  of  escape  but  in  victory.  The  com- 
missioners from  the  states,  who  always  accompanied  the 
prince  as  a  council  of  observation  rather  than  of  war,  had 
retired  to  Ostend  in  great  consternation,  to  wait  the  issue 
of  the  battle  which  now  seemed  inevitable.  A  scene  of  deep 
feeling  and  heroism  was  the  next  episode  of  this  memorable 
day,  and  throws  the  charm  of  natural  affection  over  those 
circumstances  in  which  glory  too  seldom  leaves  a  place  for 


228  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

the  softer  emotions  of  the  heart.  When  the  patriot  army 
was  in  its  position,  and  firmly  waiting  the  advance  of  the 
foe,  Prince  Maurice  turned  to  his  brother,  Frederick  Henry, 
then  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  several  young  noblemen,  En- 
glish, French,  and  German,  who  like  him  attended  on  the 
great  captain  to  learn  the  art  of  war :  he  pointed  out  in  a 
few  words  the  perilous  situation  in  which  he  was  placed; 
declared  his  resolution  to  conquer  or  perish  on  the  battle- 
field, and  recommended  the  boyish  band  to  retire  to  Ostend, 
and  wait  for  some  less  desperate  occasion  to  share  his  re- 
nown or  revenge  his  fall.  Frederick  Henry  spurned  the 
affectionate  suggestion,  and  swore  to  stand  by  his  brother 
to  the  last;  and  all  his  young  companions  adopted  the  same 
generous  resolution. 

The  army  of  the  states  was  placed  in  order  of  battle, 
about  a  league  in  front  of  Nieuport,  in  the  sand  hills  with 
which  the  neighborhood  abounds,  its  left  wing  resting  on  the 
seashore.  Its  losses  of  the  morning,  and  of  the  garrisons  left 
in  the  forts  near  Bruges,  reduced  it  to  an  almost  exact  equal- 
ity with  that  of  the  archduke.  Each  of  these  armies  was 
composed  of  that  variety  of  troops  which  made  them  re- 
spectively an  epitome  of  the  various  nations  of  Europe. 
The  patriot  force  contained  Dutch,  English,  French,  Ger- 
man, and  Swiss,  under  the  orders  of  Count  Louis  of  Nassau, 
Sir  Francis  and  Sir  Horace  Vere,  brothers  and  English  offi- 
cers of  great  celebrity,  with  other  distinguished  captains. 
The  archduke  mustered  Spaniards,  Italians,  "Walloons,  and 
Irish  hi  his  ranks,  led  on  by  Mendoza,  La  Berlotta,  and 
their  fellow-veterans.  Both  armies  were  in  the  highest 
state  of  discipline,  trained  to  war  by  long  service,  and  en- 
thusiastic in  the  several  causes  which  they  served ;  the  two 
highest  principles  of  enthusiasm  urging  them  on — religious 
fanaticism  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  love  of  freedom  on  the 
other.  The  rival  generals  rode  along  their  respective  lines, 
addressed  a  few  brief  sentences  of  encouragement  to  their 
men,  and  presently  the  bloody  contest  began. 

It  was  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  when  the  archduke 


TO   CAMPAIGN    OF   MAURICE   AND   SPINOLA          229 

commenced  the  attack.  His  advanced  guard,  commanded 
by  Mendoza  and  composed  of  those  former  mutineers  who 
now  resolved  to  atone  for  their  misconduct,  marched  across 
the  sand-hills  with  desperate  resolution.  They  soon  came 
into  contact  with  the  English  contingent  under  Francis 
Vere,  who  was  desperately  wounded  in  the  shock.  The 
assault  was  almost  irresistible.  The  English,  borne  down 
by  numbers,  were  forced  to  give  way ;  but  the  main  body 
pressed  on  to  their  support.  Horace  Vere  stepped  forward 
to  supply  his  brother's  place.  Not  an  inch  of  ground  more 
was  gained  or  lost ;  the  firing  ceased,  and  pikes  and  swords 
crossed  each  other  in  the  resolute  conflict  of  man  to  man. 
The  action  became  general  along  the  whole  line.  The  two 
commanders-in-chief  were  at  all  points.  Nothing  could  ex- 
ceed their  mutual  display  of  skill  and  courage.  At  length 
the  Spanish  cavalry,  broken  by  the  well-directed  fire  of  the 
patriot  artillery,  fell  back  on  their  infantry  and  threw  it 
into  confusion.  The  archduke  at  the  same  instant  was 
wounded  by  a  lance  in  the  cheek,  unhorsed,  and  forced  to 
quit  the  field.  The  report  of  his  death,  and  the  sight  of  his 
war-steed  galloping  alone  across  the  field,  spread  alarm 
through  the  royalist  ranks.  Prince  Maurice  saw  and  seized 
on  the  critical  moment.  He  who  had  so  patiently  main- 
tained his  position  for  three  hours  of  desperate  conflict 
now  knew  the  crisis  for  a  prompt  and  general  advance. 
He  gave  the  word  and  led  on  to  the  charge,  and  the  vic- 
tory was  at  once  his  own. 

The  defeat  of  the  royalist  army  was  complete.  The 
whole  of  the  artillery,  baggage,  standards,  and  ammuni- 
tion, fell  into  the  possession  of  the  conquerors.  Night  com- 
ing on  saved  those  who  fled,  and  the  nature  of  the  ground 
prevented  the  cavalry  from  consummating  the  destruction 
of  the  whole.  As  far  as  the  conflicting  accounts  of  the  va- 
rious historians  may  be  compared  and  calculated  on,  the 
royalists  had  three  thousand  killed,  and  among  them  sev- 
earl  officers  of  rank;  while  the  patriot  army,  including 
those  who  fell  in  the  morning  action,  lost  something  more 


230  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

than  half  the  number.  The  archduke,  furnished  with  a 
fresh  horse,  gained  Bruges  in  safety;  but  he  only  waited 
there  long  enough  to  join  his  heroic  wife,  with  whom  he 
proceeded  rapidly  to  Ghent,  and  thence  to  Brussels.  Men- 
doza  was  wounded  and  taken  prisoner,  and  with  difficulty 
saved  by  Prince  Maurice  from  the  fury  of  the  German 
auxiliaries. 

The  moral  effect  produced  by  this  victory  on  the  van- 
quishers and  vanquished,  and  on  the  state  of  public  opinion 
throughout  Europe,  was  immense;  but  its  immediate  con- 
sequences were  incredibly  trifling.  Not  one  result  in  a  mili- 
tary point  of  view  followed  an  event  which  appeared  almost 
decisive  of  the  war.  Nieuport  was  again  invested  three  days 
after  the  battle;  but  a  strong  reinforcement  entering  the 
place  saved  it  from  all  danger,  and  Maurice  found  himself 
forced  for  want  of  supplies  to  abandon  the  scene  of  his 
greatest  exploit.  He  returned  to  Holland,  welcomed  by 
the  acclamations  of  his  grateful  country,  and  exciting  the 
jealousy  and  hatred  of  all  who  envied  his  glory  or  feared 
his  power.  Among  the  sincere  and  conscientious  republi- 
cans who  saw  danger  to  the  public  liberty  in  the  growing 
influence  of  a  successful  soldier,  placed  at  the  head  of  affairs 
and  endeared  to  the  people  by  every  hereditary  and  personal 
claim,  was  Olden  Barneveldt,  the  pensionary;  and  from  this 
period  may  be  traced  the  growth  of  the  mutual  antipathy 
which  led  to  the  sacrifice  of  the  most  virtuous  statesman  of 
Holland,  and  the  eternal  disgrace  of  its  hitherto  heroic  chief. 

The  states  of  the  Catholic  provinces  assembled  at  Brus- 
sels now  gave  the  archdukes  to  understand  that  nothing 
but  peace  could  satisfy  their  wishes  or  save  the  country  from 
exhaustion  and  ruin.  Albert  saw  the  reasonableness  of  their 
remonstrances,  and  attempted  to  carry  the  great  object  into 
effect.  The  states-general  listened  to  his  proposals.  Com- 
missioners were  appointed  on  both  sides  to  treat  of  terms. 
They  met  at  Berg-op-Zoom ;  but  their  conferences  were 
broken  up  almost  as  soon  as  commenced.  The  Spanish 
deputies  insisted  on  the  submission  of  the  republic  to  its 


TO   CAMPAIGN   OF   MAURICE    AND   SPINOLA          231 

ancient  masters.  Such  a  proposal  was  worse  than  insult- 
ing; it  proved  the  inveterate  insincerity  of  those  with  whom 
it  originated,  and  who  knew  it  could  not  be  entertained  for 
a  moment.  Preparations  for  hostilities  were  therefore  com- 
menced on  both  sides,  and  the  whole  of  the  winter  was  thus 
employed. 

Early  in  the  spring  Prince  Maurice  opened  the  campaign 
at  the  head  of  sixteen  thousand  men,  chiefly  composed  of 
English  and  French,  who  seemed  throughout  the  contest 
to  forget  their  national  animosities,  and  to  know  no  rivalry 
but  that  of  emulation  in  the  cause  of  liberty.  The  town  of 
Rhinberg  soon  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  prince.  His  next 
attempt  was  against  Bois-le-cluc ;  and  the  siege  of  this  place 
was  signalized  by  an  event  that  flavored  of  the  chivalric 
contests  now  going  out  of  fashion.  A  Norman  gentleman 
of  the  name  of  Breaute,  in  the  service  of  Prince  Maurice, 
challenged  the  royalist  garrison  to  meet  him  and  twenty  of 
his  comrades  in  arms  under  the  walls  of  the  place.  The 
cartel  was  accepted  by  a  Fleming  named  Abramzoom,  but 
better  known  by  the  epithet  Leckerbeetje  (savory  bit),  who, 
with  twenty  more,  met  Breaute  and  his  friends.  The  com- 
bat was  desperate.  The  Flemish  champion  was  killed  at  the 
first  shock  by  his  Norman  challenger;  but  the  latter  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  they  treacherously  and  cruelly 
put  him  to  death,  in  violation  of  the  strict  conditions  of  the 
fight.  Prince  Maurice  was  forced  to  raise  the  siege  of  Bois- 
le-duc,  and  turn  his  attention  in  another  direction. 

The  archduke  Albert  had  now  resolved  to  invest  Ostend, 
a  place  of  great  importance  to  the  United  Provinces,  but 
little  worth  to  either  party  in  comparison  with  the  dreadful 
waste  of  treasure  and  human  life  which  was  the  conse- 
quence of  its  memorable  siege.  Sir  Francis  Vere  com- 
manded in  the  place  at  the  period  of  its  final  investment ; 
but  governors,  garrisons,  and  besieging  forces,  were  re- 
newed and  replaced  with  a  rapidity  which  gives  one  of 
the  most  frightful  instances  of  the  ravages  of  war.  The 
siege  of  Ostend  lasted  upward  of  three  years.  It  became 


232  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

a  school  for  the  young  nobility  of  all  Europe,  who  repaired 
to  either  one  or  the  other  party  to  learn  the  principles  and 
the  practice  of  attack  and  defence.  Everything  that  the  art 
of  strategy  could  devise  was  resorted  to  on  either  side.  The 
slaughter  in  the  various  assaults,  sorties,  and  bombard- 
ments was  enormous.  Squadrons  at  sea  gave  a  double 
interest  to  the  land  operations ;  and  the  celebrated  brothers 
Frederick  and  Ambrose  Spinola  founded  their  reputation  on 
these  opposing  elements.  Frederick  was  killed  in  one  of  the 
naval  combats  with  the  Dutch  galleys,  and  the  fame  of  re- 
ducing Ostend  was  reserved  for  Ambrose.  This  afterward 
celebrated  general  had  undertaken  the  command  at  the 
earnest  entreaties  of  the  archduke  and  the  king  of  Spain, 
and  by  the  firmness  and  vigor  of  his  measures  he  revived 
the  courage  of  the  worn-out  assailants  of  the  place.  Re- 
doubled attacks  and  multiplied  mines  at  length  reduced 
the  town  to  a  mere  mass  of  ruin,  and  scarcely  left  its  still 
undaunted  garrison  sufficient  footing  on  which  to  prolong 
their  desperate  defence.  Ostend  at  length  surrendered,  on 
the  22d  of  September,  1604,  and  the  victors  marched  in  over 
its  crumbled  walls  and  shattered  batteries.  Scarcely  a  ves- 
tige of  the  place  remained  beyond  those  terrible  evidences 
of  destruction.  Its  ditches,  filled  up  with  the  rubbish  of 
ramparts,  bastions,  and  redoubts,  left  no  distinct  line  of  sep- 
aration between  the  operations  of  its  attack  and  its  defence. 
It  resembled  rather  a  vast  sepulchre  than  a  ruined  town,  a 
mountain  of  earth  and  rubbish,  without  a  single  house  in 
which  the  wretched  remnant  of  the  inhabitants  could  hide 
their  heads — a  monument  of  desolation  on  which  victory 
might  have  sat  and  wept. 

During  the  progress  of  this  memorable  siege  Queen  Eliza- 
beth of  England  had  died,  after  a  long  and,  it  must  be  pro- 
nounced, a  glorious  reign;  though  the  glory  belongs  rather 
to  the  nation  than  to  the  monarch,  whose  memory  is  marked 
with  indelible  stains  of  private  cruelty,  as  in  the  cases  of 
Essex  and  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  and  of  public  wrongs,  as 
in  that  of  her  whole  system  of  tyranny  in  Ireland.  With 


TO    CAMPAIGN   OF   MAURICE   AND   SPINOLA          233 

respect  to  the  United  Provinces  she  was  a  harsh  protectress 
and  a  capricious  ally.  She  in  turns  advised  them  to  remain 
faithful  to  the  old  impurities  of  religion  and  to  their  intoler- 
able king ;  refused  to  incorporate  them  with  her  own  states ; 
and  then  used  her  best  efforts  for  subjecting  them  to  her 
sway.  She  seemed  to  take  pleasure  in  the  uncertainty  to 
which  she  reduced  them,  by  constant  demands  for  payment 
of  her  loans,  and  threats  of  making  peace  with  Spain.  Thus 
the  states-general  were  not  much  affected  by  the  news  of 
her  death;  and  so  rejoiced  were  they  at  the  accession  of 
James  I.  to  the  throne  of  England  that  all  the  bells  of  Hol- 
land rang  out  merry  peals;  bonfires  were  set  blazing  all 
over  the  country ;  a  letter  of  congratulation  was  despatched 
to  the  new  monarch ;  and  it  was  speedily  followed  by  a  sol- 
emn embassy  composed  of  Prince  Frederick  Henry,  the 
grand  pensionary  De  Barneveldt,  and  others  of  the  first 
dignitaries  of  the  republic.  These  ambassadors  were  griev- 
ously disappointed  at  the  reception  given  to  them  by  James, 
who  treated  them  as  little  better  than  rebels  to  their  lawful 
king.  But  this  first  disposition  to  contempt  and  insult  was 
soon  overcome  by  the  united  talents  of  Barneveldt  and  the 
great  duke  of  Sully,  who  were  at  the  same  period  ambassa- 
dors from  France  at  the  English  court.  The  result  of  the 
negotiations  was  an  agreement  between  those  two  powers  to 
take  the  republic  under  their  protection,  and  use  their  best 
efforts  for  obtaining  the  recognition  of  its  independence  by 
Spain. 

The  states-general  considered  themselves  amply  recom- 
pensed for  the  loss  of  Ostend  by  the  taking  of  Ecluse, 
Rhinberg,  and  Grave,  all  of  which  had  in  the  interval 
surrendered  to  Prince  Maurice;  but  they  were  seriously 
alarmed  on  finding  themselves  abandoned  by  King  James, 
who  concluded  a  separate  peace  with  Philip  III.  of  Spain 
in  the  month  of  August  this  year. 

This  event  gives  rise  to  a  question  very  important  to  the 
honor  of  James,  and  consequently  to  England  itself,  as  the 
acts  of  the  absolute  monarchs  of  those  days  must  be  consid- 


334  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

ered  as  those  of  the  nations  which  submitted  to  such  a  form 
of  government.  Historians  of  great  authority  have  asserted 
that  it  appeared  that,  by  a  secret  agreement,  the  king  had 
expressly  reserved  the  power  of  sending  assistance  to  Hol- 
land. Others  deny  the  existence  of  this  secret  article;  and 
lean  heavily  on  the  reputation  of  James  for  his  conduct  in 
the  transaction.  It  must  be  considered  a  very  doubtful 
point,  and  is  to  be  judged  rather  by  subsequent  events 
than  by  any  direct  testimony. 

The  two  monarchs  stipulated  in  the  treaty  that  "neither 
was  to  give  support  of  any  kind  to  the  revolted  subjects  of 
the  other."  It  is  nevertheless  true  that  James  did  not 
withdraw  his  troops  from  the  service  of  the  states;  but  he 
authorized  the  Spaniards  to  levy  soldiers  in  England.  The 
United  Provinces  were  at  once  afflicted  and  indignant  at 
this  equivocal  conduct.  Their  first  impulse  was  to  deprive 
the  English  of  the  liberty  of  navigating  the  Scheldt.  They 
even  arrested  the  progress  of  several  of  their  merchant- 
ships.  But  soon  after,  gratified  at  finding  that  James 
received  thfir  deputy  with  the  title  of  ambassador,  they 
resolved  to  dissimulate  their  resentment. 

Prince  Maurice  and  Spinola  now  took  the  field  with  their 
respective  armies;  and  a  rapid  series  of  operations  placing 
them  in  direct  contact,  displayed  their  talents  in  the  most 
striking  points  of  view.  The  first  steps  on  the  part  of  the 
prince  were  a  new  invasion  of  Flanders,  and  an  attempt  on 
Antwerp,  which  he  hoped  to  carry  before  the  Spanish  army 
could  arrive  to  its  succor.  But  the  promptitude  and  sagac- 
ity of  Spinola  defeated  this  plan,  which  Maurice  was  obliged 
to  abandon  after  some  loss;  while  the  royalist  general  re- 
solved to  signalize  himself  by  some  important  movement, 
and,  ere  his  design  was  suspected,  he  had  penetrated  into 
the  province  of  Overyssel,  and  thus  retorted  his  rival's  fa- 
vorite measure  of  carrying  the  war  into  the  enemy's  coun- 
try. Several  towns  were  rapidly  reduced;  but  Maurice  flew 
toward  the  threatened  provinces,  and  by  his  active  measures 
forced  Spinola  to  fall  back  on  the  Rhine  and  take  up  a  posi- 


TO   CAMPAIGN    OF   MAURICE   AND   SPINOLA          235 

tion  near  Roeroord,  where  he  was  impetuously  attacked  by 
the  Dutch  army.  But  the  cavalry  having  followed  up  too 
slowly  the  orders  of  Maurice,  his  hope  of  surprising  the  roy- 
alists was  frustrated ;  and  the  Spanish  forces,  gaining  time 
by  this  hesitation,  soon  changed  the  fortune  of  the  day. 
The  Dutch  cavalry  shamefully  took  to  flight,  despite  the 
gallant  endeavors  of  both  Maurice  and  his  brother  Frederick 
Henry ;  and  at  this  juncture  a  large  reinforcement  of  Span- 
iards arrived  under  the  command  of  Velasco.  Maurice  now 
brought  forward  some  companies  of  English  and  French  in- 
fantry under  Horatio  Vere  and  D'Omerville,  also  a  distin- 
guished officer.  The  battle  was  again  fiercely  renewed ;  and 
the  Spaniards  now  gave  way,  and  had  been  completely  de- 
feated, had  not  Spinola  put  in  practice  an  old  and  generally 
successful  stratagem.  He  caused  almost  all  the  drums  of 
his  army  to  beat  in  one  direction,  so  as  to  give  the  impres- 
sion that  a  still  larger  reinforcement  was  approaching. 
Maurice,  apprehensive  that  the  former  panic  might  find 
a  parallel  in  a  fresL  one,  prudently  ordered  a  retreat,  which 
he  was  able  to  effect  in  good  order,  in  preference  to  risking 
the  total  disorganization  of  his  troops.  The  loss  on  each 
side  was  nearly  the  same;  but  the  glory  of  this  hard-fought 
day  remained  on  the  side  of  Spinola,  who  proved  himself  a 
worthy  successor  of  the  great  duke  of  Parma,  and  an  antag- 
onist with  whom  Maurice  might  contend  without  dishonor. 
The  naval  transactions  of  this  year  restored  the  balance 
which  Spinola's  successes  had  begun  to  turn  in  favor  of  the 
royalist  cause.  A  squadron  of  ships,  commanded  by  Hau- 
tain,  admiral  of  Zealand,  attacked  a  superior  force  of  Span- 
ish vessels  close  to  Dover,  and  defeated  them  with  consider- 
able loss.  But  the  victory  was  sullied  by  an  act  of  great 
barbarity.  All  the  soldiers  found  on  board  the  captured 
ships  were  tied  two  and  two  and  mercilessly  flung  into  the 
sea.  Some  contrived  to  extricate  themselves,  and  gained 
the  shore  by  swimming ;  others  were  picked  up  by  the  En- 
glish boats,  whose  crews  witnessed  the  scene  and  hastened 
to  their  relief .  The  generous  British  seamen  could  not  re- 


236  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

main  neuter  in  such  a  moment,  nor  repress  their  indignation 
against  those  whom  they  had  hitherto  so  long  considered  as 
friends.  The  Dutch  vessels  pursuing  those  of  Spain  which 
fled  into  Dover  harbor,  were  fired  on  by  the  cannon  of  the 
castle  and  forced  to  give  up  the  chase.  The  English  loudly 
complained  that  the  Dutch  had  on  this  occasion  violated 
their  territory;  and  this  transaction  laid  the  foundation  of 
the  quarrel  which  subsequently  broke  out  between  England 
and  the  republic,  and  which  the  jealousies  of  rival  mer- 
chants in  either  state  unceasingly  fomented.  In  this  year 
also  the  Dutch  succeeded  in  capturing  the  chief  of  the  Dun- 
kirk privateers,  which  had  so  long  annoyed  their  trade ;  and 
they  cruelly  ordered  sixty  of  the  prisoners  to  be  put  to  death. 
But  the  people,  more  humane  than  the  authorities,  rescued 
them  from  the  executioners  and  set  them  free. 

But  these  domestic  instances  of  success  and  inhumanity 
were  trifling  in  comparison  with  the  splendid  train  of  dis- 
tant events,  accompanied  by  a  course  of  wholesale  benevo- 
lence, that  redeemed  the  traits  of  petty  guilt.  The  mari- 
time enterprises  of  Holland,  forced  by  the  imprudent  policy 
of  Spain  to  seek  a  wider  career  than  in  the  narrow  seas  of 
Europe,  were  day  by  day  extended  in  the  Indies.  To  ruin 
if  possible  their  increasing  trade,  Philip  III.  sent  out  the 
admiral  Hurtado,  with  a  fleet  of  eight  galleons  and  thirty- 
two  galleys.  The  Dutch  squadron  of  five  vessels,  com- 
manded by  Wolfert  Hermanszoon,  attacked  them  off  the 
coast  of  Malabar,  and  his  temerity  was  crowned  with  great 
success.  He  took  two  of  their  vessels,  and  completely  drove 
he  remainder  from  the  Indian  seas.  He  then  concluded  a 
treaty  with  the  natives  of  the  isle  of  Banda,  by  which  he 
promised  to  support  them  against  the  Spaniards  and  Portu- 
guese, on  condition  that  they  were  to  give  his  fellow-coun- 
trymen the  exclusive  privilege  of  purchasing  the  spices  of 
the  island.  This  treaty  was  the  foundation  of  the  influence 
which  the  Dutch  so  soon  succeeded  in  forming  in  the  East 
Indies ;  and  they  established  it  by  a  candid,  mild,  and  toler- 
ant conduct,  strongly  contrasted  with  the  pride  and  bigotry 


TO    CAMPAIGN    OF    MAURICE    AND    SPINOLA          237 

which   had    signalized   every   act   of    the   Portuguese  and 
Spaniards. 

The  prodigious  success  of  the  Indian  trade  occasioned 
numerous  societies  to  be  formed  all  through  the  republic. 
But  by  their  great  number  they  became  at  length  injurious 
to  each  other.  The  spirit  of  speculation  was  pushed  too 
far ;  and  the  merchants,  who  paid  enormous  prices  for  In- 
dia goods,  found  themselves  forced  to  sell  in  Europe  at  a 
loss.  Many  of  those  societies  were  too  weak,  in  military 
force  as  well  as  in  capital,  to  resist  the  armed  competition 
of  the  Spaniards,  and  to  support  themselves  in  their  disputes 
with  the  native  princes.  At  length  the  states-general  re- 
solved to  unite  the  whole  of  these  scattered  partnerships 
into  one  grand  company,  which  was  soon  organized  on  a 
solid  basis  that  led  ere  long  to  incredible  wealth  at  home 
and  a  rapid  succession  of  conquests  in  the  East, 


CHAPTER  XVI 

TO  THE  SYNOD  AT  DORT   AND   THE    EXECUTION  OP 
BARNEVELDT 

A.D.  1606-1619 

THE  states-general  now  resolved  to  confine  their  mili- 
tary operations  to  a  war  merely  defensive.  Spinola 
had,  by  his  conduct  during  the  late  campaign,  com- 
pletely revived  the  spirits  of  the  Spanish  troops,  and  excited 
at  least  the  caution  of  the  Dutch.  He  now  threatened  the 
United  Provinces  with  invasion ;  and  he  exerted  his  utmost 
efforts  to  raise  the  supplies  necessary  for  the  execution  of 
his  plan.  He  not  only  exhausted  the  resources  of  the  king 
of  Spain  and  the  archduke,  but  obtained  money  on  his  pri- 
vate account  from  all  those  usurers  who  were  tempted  by 
his  confident  anticipations  of  conquest.  He  soon  equipped 
two  armies  of  about  twelve  thousand  men  each.  At  the 
head  of  one  of  those  he  took  the  field;  the  other,  com- 
manded by  the  count  of  Bucquoi,  was  destined  to  join  him 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Utrecht;  and  he  was  then  resolved 
to  push  forward  with  the  whole  united  force  into  the  very 
heart  of  the  republic. 

Prince  Maurice  in  the  meantime  concentrated  his  army, 
amounting  to  twelve  thousand  men,  and  prepared  to  make 
head  against  his  formidable  opponents.  By  a  succession  of 
the  most  prudent  manoeuvres  he  contrived  to  keep  Spinola 
in  check,  disconcerted  all  his  projects,  and  forced  him  to 
content  himself  with  the  capture  of  two  or  three  towns — 
a  comparatively  insignificant  conquest.  Desiring  to  wipe 
away  the  disgrace  of  this  discomfiture,  and  to  risk  every- 
thing for  the  accomplishment  of  his  grand  design,  Spinola 
used  every  method  to  provoke  the  prince  to  a  battle,  even 
(238) 


TO   THE    EXECUTION   OF   BARNEVELDT  239 

though  a  serious  mutiny  among  his  troops,  and  the  impos- 
sibility of  forming  a  junction  with  Bucquoi,  had  reduced 
his  force  below  that  of  Maurice ;  but  the  latter,  to  the  sur- 
prise of  all  who  expected  a  decisive  blow,  retreated  from 
before  the  Italian  general — abandoning  the  town  of  Groll, 
which  immediately  fell  into  Spinola's  power,  and  giving 
rise  to  manifold  conjectures  and  infinite  discontent  St 
conduct  so  little  in  unison  with  his  wonted  enterprise  and 
skill.  Even  Henry  IV.  acknowledged  it  did  not  answer 
the  expectation  he  had  formed  from  Maurice's  splendid 
talents  for  war.  The  fact  seems  to  be  that  the  prince, 
much  as  he  valued  victory,  dreaded  peace  more ;  and  that 
he  was  resolved  to  avoid  a  decisive  blow,  which,  in  putting 
an  end  to  the  contest,  would  at  the  same  time  have  de- 
creased the  individual  influence  in  the  state  which  his 
ambition  now  urged  him  to  augment  by  every  possible 
means. 

The  Dutch  naval  expeditions  this  year  were  not  more 
brilliant  than  those  on  land.  Admiral  Hautain,  with 
twenty  ships,  was  surprised  off  Cape  St.  Vincent  by  the 
Spanish  fleet.  The  formidable  appearance  of  their  galleons 
inspired  on  this  occasion  a  perfect  panic  among  the  Dutch 
sailors.  They  hoisted  their  sails  and  fled,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  one  ship,  commanded  by  Vice- Admiral  Klaazoon, 
whose  desperate  conduct  saved  the  national  honor.  Hav- 
ing held  out  until  his  vessel  was  quite  unmanageable,  and 
almost  his  whole  crew  killed  or  wounded,  he  prevailed  on 
the  rest  to  agree  to  the  resolution  he  had  formed,  knelt 
down  on  the  deck,  and  putting  up  a  brief  prayer  for  pardon 
for  the  act,  thrust  a  light  into  the  powder-magazine,  and 
was  instantly  blown  up  with  his  companions.  Only  two 
men  were  snatched  from  the  sea  by  thte  Spaniards;  and 
even  these,  dreadfully  burned  and  mangled,  died  in  the 
utterance  of  curses  on  the  enemy. 

This  disastrous  occurrence  was  soon,  however,  forgotten 
in  the  rejoicings  for  a  brilliant  victory  gained  the  following 
year  by  Heemskirk,  so  celebrated  for  his  voyage  to  Nova 


S40  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

Zembla,  and  by  his  conduct  in  the  East.  He  set  sail  from 
the  ports  of  Holland  in  the  month  of  March,  determined 
to  signalize  himself  by  some  great  exploit,  now  necessary  to 
redeem  the  disgrace  which  had  begun  to  sully  the  reputa- 
tion of  the  Dutch  navy.  He  soon  got  intelligence  that  the 
Spanish  fleet  lay  at  anchor  in  the  bay  of  Gibraltar,  and  he 
dpeedily  prepared  to  offer  them  battle.  Before  the  combat 
began  he  held  a  council  of  war,  and  addressed  the  officers 
in  an  energetic  speech,  in  which  he  displayed  the  imperative 
call  on  their  valor  to  conquer  or  die  in  the  approaching  con- 
flict. He  led  on  to  the  action  in  his  own  ship ;  and,  to  the 
astonishment  of  both  fleets,  he  bore  right  down  against  the 
enormous  galleon  in  which  the  flag  of  the  Spanish  admiral- 
in-chief  was  hoisted.  D'Avila  could  scarcely  believe  the 
evidence  of  his  eyes  at  this  audacity :  he  at  first  burst  into 
laughter  at  the  notion;  but  as  Heemskirk  approached,  he 
cut  his  cables  and  attempted  to  escape  under  the  shelter  of 
the  town.  The  heroic  Dutchman  pursued  him  through  the 
whole  of  the  Spanish  fleet,  and  soon  forced  him  to  action. 
At  the  second  broadside  Heemskirk  had  his  left  leg  carried 
off  by  a  cannon-ball,  and  he  almost  instantly  died,  exhort- 
ing his  crew  to  seek  for  consolation  in  the  defeat  of  the 
enemy.  Verhoef,  the  captain  of  the  ship,  concealed  the 
admiral's  death;  and  the  whole  fleet  continued  the  action 
with  a  valor  worthy  the  spirit  in  which  it  was  commenced. 
The  victory  was  soon  decided :  four  of  the  Spanish  galleons 
were  sunk  or  burned,  the  remainder  fled;  and  the  citizens 
of  Cadiz  trembled  with  the  apprehension  of  sack  and  pil- 
lage. But  the  death  of  Heemskirk,  when  made  known  to 
the  surviving  victors,  seemed  completely  to  paralyze  them. 
They  attempted  nothing  further;  but  sailing  back  to  Hol- 
land with  the  body  of  their  lamented  chief,  thus  paid  a 
greater  tribute  to  his  importance  than  was  to  be  found 
in  the.  mausoleum  erected  to  his  memory  in  the  city  of 
Amsterdam. 

The  news  of  this  battle  reaching  Brussels  before  it  was 
known  in  Holland,  contributed  not  a  little  to  quicken  the 


TO   THE   EXECUTION   OF   BARNEVELDT  241 

anxiety  of  the  archdukes  for  peace.  The  king  of  Spain, 
worn  out  by  the  war  which  drained  his  treasury,  had  for 
some  time  ardently  desired  it.  The  Portuguese  made  loud 
complaints  of  the  ruin  that  threatened  their  trade  and  their 
East  Indian  colonies.  The  Spanish  ministers  were  fatigued 
with  the  apparently  interminable  contest  which  baffled  all 
their  calculations.  Spinola,  even  in  the  midst  of  his  bril- 
liant career,  found  himself  so  overwhelmed  with  debts  and 
so  oppressed  by  the  reproaches  of  the  numerous  creditors 
who  were  ruined  by  his  default  of  payment,  that  he  joined 
in  the  general  demand  for  repose.  In  the  month  of  May, 
1607,  proposals  were  made  by  the  archdukes,  in  compliance 
with  the  general  desire;  and  their  two  plenipotentiaries, 
Van  Wittenhorst  and  Gevaerts,  repaired  to  The  Hague. 

Public  opinion  in  the  United  Provinces  was  divided  on 
this  important  question.  An  instinctive  hatred  against  the 
Spaniards,  and  long  habits  of  warfare,  influenced  the  great 
mass  of  the  people  to  consider  any  overture  for  peace  as 
some  wily  artifice  aimed  at  their  religion  and  liberty.  "War 
seemed  to  open  inexhaustible  sources  of  wealth ;  while  peace 
seemed  to  threaten  the  extinction  of  the  courage  which  was 
now  as  much  a  habit  as  war  appeared  to  be  a  want.  This 
reasoning  was  particularly  convincing  to  Prince  Maurice, 
whose  fame,  with  a  large  portion  of  his  authority  and  rev- 
enues, depended  on  the  continuance  of  hostilities:  it  was 
also  strongly  relished  and  supported  in  Zealand  generally, 
and  in  the  chief  towns,  which  dreaded  the  rivalry  of  Ant- 
werp. But  those  who  bore  the  burden  of  the  war  saw  the 
subject  under  a  different  aspect.  They  feared  that  the 
present  state  of  things  would  lead  to  their  conquest  by  the 
enemy,  or  to  the  ruin  of  their  liberty  by  the  growing  power 
of  Maurice.  They  hoped  that  peace  would  consolidate  the 
republic  and  cause  the  reduction  of  the  debt,  which  now 
amounted  to  twenty-six  million  florins.  At  the  head  of  the 
party  who  so  reasoned  was  De  Barneveldt;  and  his  name 
is  a  guarantee  with  posterity  for  the  wisdom  of  the  opinion. 

To  allow  the  violent  opposition  to  subside,  and  to  prevent 
Holland. — n 


242  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

any  explosion  of  party  feuds,  the  prudent  Barneveldt  sug- 
gested a  mere  suspension  of  arms,  during  which  the  perma- 
nent interests  of  both  states  might  be  calmly  discussed.  He 
even  undertook  to  obtain  Maurice's  consent  to  the  armistice. 
The  prince  listened  to  his  arguments,  and  was  apparently 
convinced  by  them.  He,  at  any  rate,  sanctioned  the  pro- 
posal; but  he  afterward  complained  that  Barneveldt  had 
deceived  him,  in  representing  the  negotiation  as  a  feint  for 
the  purpose  of  persuading  the  kings  of  France  and  England 
to  give  greater  aid  to  the  republic.  It  is  more  than  likely 
that  Maurice  reckoned  on  the  improbability  of  Spain's  con- 
senting to  the  terms  of  the  proposed  treaty;  and,  on  that 
chance,  withdrew  an  opposition  which  could  scarcely  be 
ascribed  to  any  but  motives  of  personal  ambition.  It  is, 
however,  certain  that  his  discontent  at  this  transaction, 
either  with  himself  or  Barneveldt,  laid  the  foundation  of 
that  bitter  enmity  which  proved  fatal  to  the  life  of  the 
latter,  and  covered  his  own  name,  otherwise  glorious,  with 
undying  reproach. 

The  United  Provinces  positively  refused  to  admit  even 
the  commencement  of  a  negotiation  without  the  absolute 
recognition  of  their  independence  by  the  archdukes.  A 
new  ambassador  was  accordingly  chosen  on  the  part  of 
these  sovereigns,  and  empowered  to  concede  this  important 
admission.  This  person  attracted  considerable  attention, 
from  his  well-known  qualities  as  an  able  diplomatist.  He 
was  a  monk  of  the  order  of  St.  Francis,  named  John  de 
Neyen,  a  native  of  Antwerp,  and  a  person  as  well  versed 
in  court  intrigue  as  in  the  studies  of  the  cloister.  He,  in 
the  first  instance,  repaired  secretly  to  The  Hague ;  and  had 
several  private  interviews  with  Prince  Maurice  and  Barne- 
veldt, before  he  was  regularly  introduced  to  the  states-gen- 
eral in  his  official  character.  Two  different  journeys  were 
undertaken  by  this  agent  between  The  Hague  and  Brussels, 
before  he  could  succeed  in  obtaining  a  perfect  understand- 
ing as  to  the  specific  views  of  the  archdukes.  The  suspi- 
cions of  the  states-general  seem  fully  justified  by  the  dubi- 


TO    THE    EXECUTION    OF   BARNEVELDT  243 

ous  tone  of  the  various  communications,  which  avoided  the 
direct  admission  of  the  required  preliminary  as  to  the  in- 
dependence of  the  United  Provinces.  It  was  at  length 
concluded  in  explicit  terms;  and  a  suspension  of  arms  for 
eight  months  was  the  immediate  consequence. 

But  the  negotiation  for  peace  was  on  the  point  of  being 
completely  broken,  in  consequence  of  the  conduct  of  Neyen, 
who  justified  every  doubt  of  his  sincerity  by  an  attempt  to 
corrupt  Aarsens  the  greffier  of  the  states-general,  or  at  least 
to  influence  his  conduct  in  the  progress  of  the  treaty.  Neyen 
presented  him,  in  the  name  of  the  archdukes,  and  as  a  token 
of  his  esteem,  with  a  diamond  of  great  value  and  a  bond  for 
fifty  thousand  crowns.  Aarsens  accepted  these  presents 
with  the  approbation  of  Prince  Maurice,  to  whom  he  had 
confided  the  circumstance,  and  who  was  no  doubt  delighted 
at  what  promised  a  rupture  to  the  negotiations.  Verreiken, 
a  councillor  of  state,  who  assisted  Neyen  in  his  diplomatic 
labors,  was  formally  summoned  before  the  assembled  states- 
general,  and  there  Barneveldt  handed  to  him  the  diamond 
and  the  bond ;  and  at  the  same  tune  read  him  a  lecture  of 
true  republican  severity  on  the  subject.  Verreiken  was 
overwhelmed  by  the  violent  attack:  he  denied  the  author- 
ity of  Neyen  for  the  measure  he  had  taken ;  and  remarked, 
"that  it  was  not  surprising  that  monks,  naturally  interested 
and  avaricious,  judged  others  by  themselves. "  This  repudi- 
ation of  Neyen's  suspicious  conduct  seems  to  have  satisfied 
the  stern  resentment  of  Barneveldt,  and  the  party  which  so 
earnestly  labored  for  peace.  In  spite  of  all  the  opposition 
of  Maurice  and  his  partisans,  the  negotiation  went  on. 

In  the  month  of  January,  1608,  the  various  ambassadors 
were  assembled  at  The  Hague.  Spinola  was  the  chief  of  the 
plenipotentiaries  appointed  by  the  king  of  Spain ;  and  Jean- 
nin,  president  of  the  parliament  of  Dijon,  a  man  of  rare 
endowments,  represented  France.  Prince  Maurice,  accom- 
panied by  his  brother  Frederick  Henry,  the  various  counts 
of  Nassau  his  cousins,  and  a  numerous  escort,  advanced 
some  distance  to  meet  Spinola,  conveyed  him  to  The  Hague 


244  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

in  his  own  carriage,  and  lavished  on  him  all  the  attentions 
reciprocally  due  between  two  such  renowned  captains  dur- 
ing the  suspension  of  their  rivalry.  The  president  Bichardst 
was,  with  Neyen  and  Verreiken,  ambassador  from  the  arch- 
dukes ;  but  Barneveldt  and  Jeannin  appear  to  have  played 
the  chief  parts  in  the  important  transaction  which  now  filled 
all  Europe  with  anxiety.  Every  state  was  more  or  less  con- 
cerned in  the  result ;  and  the  three  great  monarchies  of  Eng- 
land, France,  and  Spain,  had  all  a  vital  interest  at  stake. 
The  conferences  were  therefore  frequent;  and  the  debates 
assumed  a  great  variety  of  aspects,  which  long  kept  the 
civilized  world  in  suspense. 

King  James  was  extremely  jealous  of  the  more  promi- 
nent part  taken  by  the  French  ambassadors,  and  of  the  sub- 
altern consideration  held  by  his  own  envoys,  Winwood  and 
Spencer,  in  consequence  of  the  disfavor  in  which  he  himself 
was  held  by  the  Dutch  people.  It  appears  evident  that, 
whether  deservedly  or  the  contrary,  England  was  at  this 
period  unpopular  in  the  United  Provinces,  while  France 
was  looked  up  to  with  the  greatest  enthusiasm.  This  is 
not  surprising,  when  we  compare  the  characters  of  Henry 
IV.  and  James  I.,  bearing  in  mind  how  much  of  national 
reputation  at  the  time  depended  on  the  personal  conduct  of 
kings;  and  how  political  situations  influence,  if  they  do  not 
create,  the  virtues  and  vices  of  a  people.  Independent  of 
the  suspicions  of  his  being  altogether  unfavorable  to  the 
declaration  required  by  the  United  Provinces  from  Spain, 
to  which  James's  conduct  had  given  rise,  he  had  established 
some  exactions  which  greatly  embarrassed  their  fishing  ex- 
peditions on  the  coasts  of  England. 

The  main  points  for  discussion,  and  on  which  depended 
the  decision  for  peace  or  war,  were  those  which  concerned 
religion;  and  the  demand,  on  the  part  of  Spain,  that  the 
United  Provinces  should  renounce  all  claims  to  the  naviga- 
tion of  the  Indian  seas.  Philip  required  for  the  Catholics 
of  the  United  Provinces  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion ; 
this  was  opposed  by  the  states-general:  and  the  archduke 


TO   THE   EXECUTION   OF   BAENEVELDT  245 

Albert,  seeing  the  impossibility  of  carrying  that  point, 
despatched  his  confessor,  Pra  Inigo  de  Briznella,  to  Spain. 
This  Dominican  was  furnished  with  the  written  opinion  of 
several  theologians,  that  the  king  might  conscientiously  slur 
over  the  article  of  religion ;  and  he  was  the  more  successful 
with  Philip,  as  the  duke  of  Lerma,  his  prime  minister,  was 
resolved  to  accomplish  the  peace  at  any  price.  The  confer- 
ences at  The  Hague  were  therefore  not  interrupted  on  this 
question ;  but  they  went  on  slowly,  months  being  consumed 
in  discussions  on  articles  of  trifling  importance.  They  were, 
however,  resumed  in  the  month  of  August  with  greater 
vigor.  It  was  announced  that  the  king  of  Spain  abandoned 
the  question  respecting  religion ;  but  that  it  was  in  the  cer- 
tainty that  his  moderation  would  be  recompensed  by  ample 
concessions  on  that  of  the  Indian  trade,  on  which  he  was  in- 
exorable. This  article  became  the  rock  on  which  the  whole 
negotiation  eventually  split.  The  court  of  Spain  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  states-general  on  the  other,  inflexibly  main- 
tained their  opposing  claims.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  am- 
bassadors turned  and  twisted  the  subject  with  all  the  subt- 
leties of  diplomacy.  Every  possible  expedient  was  used  to 
shake  the  determination  of  the  Dutch.  But  the  influence  of 
the  East  India  Company,  the  islands  of  Zealand,  and  the  city 
of  Amsterdam,  prevailed  over  all.  Reports  of  the  avowal  on 
the  part  of  the  king  of  Spain,  that  he  would  never  renounce 
his  title  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  United  Provinces,  unless 
they  abandoned  the  Indian  navigation  and  granted  the  free 
exercise  of  religion,  threw  the  whole  diplomatic  corps  into 
confusion ;  and,  on  the  25th  of  August,  the  states-general  an- 
nounced to  the  marquis  of  Spinola  and  the  other  ambassa- 
dors that  the  congress  was  dissolved,  and  that  all  hopes  of 
peace  were  abandoned. 

Nothing  seemed  now  likely  to  prevent  the  immediate 
renewal  of  hostilities,  when  the  ambassadors  of  Prance  and 
England  proposed  the  mediation  of  their  respective  masters 
for  the  conclusion  of  a  truce  for  several  years.  The  king  of 
Spain  and  the  archdukes  were  well  satisfied  to  obtain  even 


246  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

this  temporary  cessation  of  the  war;  but  Prince  Maurice 
and  a  portion  of  the  Provinces  strenuously  opposed  the 
proposition.  The  French  and  English  ambassadors,  how- 
ever, in  concert  with  Barneveldt,  who  steadily  maintained 
his  influence,  labored  incessantly  to  overcome  those  difficul- 
ties ;  and  finally  succeeded  in  overpowering  all  opposition  to 
the  truce.  A  new  congress  was  agreed  on,  to  assemble  at 
Antwerp  for  the  consideration  of  the  conditions;  and  the 
states-general  agreed  to  remove  from  The  Hague  to  Berg- 
op-Zoom,  to  be  more  within  reach,  and  ready  to  co-operate 
in  the  negotiation. 

But,  before  matters  assumed  this  favorable  turn,  discus- 
sions and  disputes  had  intervened  on  several  occasions  to 
render  fruitless  every  effort  of  those  who  so  incessantly 
labored  for  the  great  causes  of  humanity  and  the  general 
good.  On  one  occasion,  Barneveldt,  disgusted  with  the  op- 
position of  Prince  Maurice  and  his  partisans,  had  actually 
resigned  his  employments ;  but  brought  back  by  the  solicita- 
tions of  the  states-general,  and  reconciled  to  Maurice  by  the 
intervention  of  Jeannin,  the  negotiations  for  the  truce  were 
resumed ;  and,  under  the  auspices  of  the  ambassadors,  they 
were  happily  terminated.  After  two  years'  delay,  this  long- 
wished-for  truce  was  concluded,  and  signed  on  the  9th  of 
April,  1609,  to  continue  for  the  space  of  twelve  years. 

This  celebrated  treaty  contained  thirty-two  articles ;  and 
its  fulfilment  on  either  side  was  guaranteed  by  the  kings  of 
France  and  England.  Notwithstanding  the  time  taken  up 
in  previous  discussions,  the  treaty  is  one  of  the  most  vague 
and  unspecific  state  papers  that  exists.  The  archdukes,  in 
their  own  names  and  in  that  of  the  king  of  Spain,  declared 
the  United  Provinces  to  be  free  and  independent  states,  on 
which  they  renounced  all  claim  whatever.  By  the  third 
article  each  party  was  to  hold  respectively  the  places  which 
they  possessed  at  the  commencement  of  the  armistice.  The 
fourth  and  fifth  articles  grant  to  the  republic,  but  in  a 
phraseology  obscure  and  even  doubtful,  the  right  of  navi- 
gation and  free  trade  to  the  Indies.  The  eighth  contains 


TO    THE    EXECUTION    OF    BARNEVELDT  247 

all  that  regards  the  exercise  of  religion ;  and  the  remaining 
clauses  are  wholly  relative  to  points  of  internal  trade,  cus- 
tom-house regulations,  and  matters  of  private  interest. 

Ephemeral  and  temporary  as  this  peace  appeared,  it  was 
received  with  almost  universal  demonstrations  of  joy  by  the 
population  of  the  Netherlands  in  their  two  grand  divisions. 
Every  one  seemed  to  turn  toward  the  enjoyment  of  tranquil- 
lity with  the  animated  composure  of  tired  laborers  looking 
forward  to  a  day  of  rest  and  sunshine.  This  truce  brought 
a  calm  of  comparative  happiness  upon  the  country,  which 
an  almost  unremitting  tempest  had  desolated  for  nearly 
half  a  century;  and,  after  so  long  a  series  of  calamity,  all 
the  national  advantages  of  social  life  seemed  about  to  settle 
on  the  land.  The  attitude  which  the  United  Provinces  as- 
sumed at  this  period  was  indeed  a  proud  one.  They  were 
not  now  compelled  to  look  abroad  and  solicit  other  states  to 
become  their  masters.  They  had  forced  their  old  tyrants  to 
acknowledge  their  independence ;  to  come  and  ask  for  peace 
on  their  own  ground ;  and  to  treat  with  them  on  terms  of  no 
doubtful  equality.  They  had  already  become  so  flourishing, 
so  powerful,  and  so  envied,  that  they  who  had  so  lately  ex- 
cited but  compassion  from  the  neighboring  states  were  now 
regarded  with  such  jealousy  as  rivals,  unequivocally  equal, 
may  justly  inspire  in  each  other. 

The  ten  southern  provinces,  now  confirmed  under  the 
sovereignty  of  the  House  of  Austria,  and  from  this  period 
generally  distinguished  by  the  name  of  Belgium,  immedi- 
ately began,  like  the  northern  division  of  the  country,  to 
labor  for  the  great  object  of  repairing  the  dreadful  suffer- 
ings caused  by  their  long  and  cruel  war.  Their  success  was 
considerable.  Albert  and  Isabella,  their  sovereigns,  joined, 
to  considerable  probity  of  character  and  talents  for  govern- 
ment, a  fund  of  humanity  which  led  them  to  unceasing  acts 
of  benevolence.  The  whole  of  their  dominions  quickly  be- 
gan to  recover  from  the  ravages  of  war.  Agriculture  and 
the  minor  operations  of  trade  resumed  all  their  wonted  ac- 
tivity. But  the  manufactures  of  Flanders  were  no  more; 


348  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

and  the  grander  exercise  of  commerce  seemed  finally  re- 
moved to  Amsterdam  and  the  other  chief  towns  of  Holland. 

This  tranquil  course  of  prosperity  in  the  Belgian  prov- 
inces was  only  once  interrupted  during  the  whole  continu- 
ance of  the  twelve  years'  truce,  and  that  was  in  the  year 
following  its  commencement.  The  death  of  the  duke  of 
Cleves  and  Juliers,  in  this  year,  gave  rise  to  serious  disputes 
for  the  succession  to  his  states,  which  was  claimed  by  sev- 
eral of  the  princes  of  Germany.  The  elector  of  Branden- 
burg and  the  duke  of  Neuburg  were  seconded  both  by 
France  and  the  United  Provinces;  and  a  joint  army  of 
both  nations,  commanded  by  Prince  Maurice  and  the  mar- 
shal de  la  Chatre,  was  marched  into  the  county  of  Cleves. 
After  taking  possession  of  the  town  of  Juliers,  the  allies  re- 
tired, leaving  the  two  princes  above  mentioned  in  a  part- 
nership possession  of  the  disputed  states.  But  this  joint 
sovereignty  did  not  satisfy  the  ambition  of  either,  and 
serious  divisions  arose  between  them,  each  endeavoring  to 
strengthen  himself  by  foreign  alliances.  The  archdukes 
Albert  and  Isabella  were  drawn  into  the  quarrel ;  and  they 
despatched  Spinola  at  the  head  of  twenty  thousand  men  to 
support  the  duke  of  Neuburg,  whose  pretensions  they  coun- 
tenanced. Prince  Maurice,  with  a  Dutch  army,  advanced 
on  the  other  hand  to  uphold  the  claims  of  the  elector  of 
Brandenburg.  Both  generals  took  possession  of  several 
towns;  and  this  double  expedition  offered  the  singular 
spectacle  of  two  opposing  armies,  acting  in  different  inter- 
ests, making  conquests,  and  dividing  an  important  inheri- 
tance, without  the  occurrence  of  one  act  of  hostility  to  each 
other.  But  the  interference  of  the  court  of  Madrid  had 
nearly  been  the  cause  of  a  new  rupture.  The  greatest 
alarm  was  excited  in  the  Belgic  provinces;  and  nothing 
but  the  prudence  of  the  archdukes  and  the  forbearance  of 
the  states-general  could  have  succeeded  in  averting  the 
threatened  evil. 

With  the  exception  of  this  bloodless  mimicry  of  war,  the 
United  Provinces  presented  for  the  space  of  twelve  years 


TO    THE    EXECUTION    OF   BARNEVELDT  249 

a  long-continued  picture  of  peace,  as  the  term  is  generally 
received;  but  a  peace  so  disfigured  by  intestine  troubles, 
and  so  stained  by  actions  of  despotic  cruelty,  that  the  period 
which  should  have  been  that  of  its  greatest  happiness  be- 
comes but  an  example  of  its  worst  disgrace. 

The  assassination  of  Henry  IV.,  in  the  year  1609,  was 
a  new  instance  of  the  bigoted  atrocity  which  reigned  para- 
mount in  Europe  at  the  time ;  and  while  robbing  France  of 
one  of  its  best  monarchs,  it  deprived  the  United  Provinces 
of  their  truest  and  most  powerful  friend.  Henry  has,  from 
his  own  days  to  the  present,  found  a  ready  eulogy  in  all  who 
value  kings  in  proportion  as  they  are  distinguished  by  hero- 
ism, without  ceasing  to  evince  the  feelings  of  humanity. 
Henry  seems  to  have  gone  as  far  as  man  can  go,  to  com- 
bine wisdom,  dignity  and  courage  with  all  those  endearing 
qualities  of  private  life  which  alone  give  men  a  prominent 
hold  upon  the  sympathies  of  their  kind.  We  acknowledge 
his  errors,  his  faults,  his  follies,  only  to  love  him  the  better. 
"We  admire  his  valor  and  generosity,  without  being  shocked 
by  cruelty  or  disgusted  by  profusion.  We  look  on  his  great- 
ness without  envy ;  and  in  tracing  his  whole  career  we  seem 
to  walk  hand  in  hand  beside  a  dear  companion,  rather  than 
to  follow  the  footsteps  of  a  mighty  monarch. 

But  the  death  of  this  powerful  supporter  of  their  efforts 
for  freedom,  and  the  chief  guarantee  for  its  continuance, 
was  a  trifling  calamity  to  the  United  Provinces,  in  com- 
parison with  the  rapid  fall  from  the  true  point  of  glory  so 
painfully  exhibited  in  the  conduct  of  their  own  domestic 
champion.  It  had  been  well  for  Prince  Maurice  of  Nassau 
that  the  last  shot  fired  by  the  defeated  Spaniards  in  the 
battle  of  Nieuport  had  struck  him  dead  in  the  moment  of 
his  greatest  victory  and  on  the  summit  of  his  fame.  From 
that  celebrated  day  he  had  performed  no  deed  of  war  that 
could  raise  his  reputation  as  a  soldier,  and  all  his  acts  as 
stadtholder  were  calculated  to  sink  him  below  the  level 
of  civil  virtue  and  just  government.  His  two  campaigns 
against  Spinola  had  redounded  more  to  the  credit  of  his 


250  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

rival  than  to  his  own;  and  his  whole  conduct  during  the 
negotiation  for  the  truce  too  plainly  betrayed  the  unworthy 
nature  of  his  ambition,  founded  on  despotic  principles.  It 
was  his  misfortune  to  have  been  completely  thrown  out 
of  the  career  for  which  he  had  been  designed  by  nature 
and  education.  "War  was  his  element.  By  his  genius,  he 
improved  it  as  a  science :  by  his  valor,  he  was  one  of  those 
who  raised  it  from  the  degradation  of  a  trade  to  the  dignity 
of  a  passion.  But  when  removed  from  the  camp  to  the 
council  room,  he  became  all  at  once  a  common  man.  His 
frankness  degenerated  into  roughness;  his  decision  into 
despotism ;  his  courage  into  cruelty.  He  gave  a  new  proof 
of  the  melancholy  fact  that  circumstances  may  transform 
the  most  apparent  qualities  of  virtue  into  those  opposite 
vices  between  which  human  wisdom  is  baffled  when  it 
attempts  to  draw  a  decided  and  invariable  line. 

Opposed  to  Maurice  in  almost  every  one  of  his  acts,  was, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  Barneveldt,  one  of  the  truest  patriots 
of  any  time  or  country ;  and,  with  the  exception  of  William 
the  Great,  prince  of  Orange,  the  most  eminent  citizen  to 
whom  the  affairs  of  the  Netherlands  have  given  celebrity. 
A  hundred  pens  have  labored  to  do  honor  to  this  truly  vir- 
tuous man.  His  greatness  has  found  a  record  in  every  act 
of  his  life;  and  his  death,  like  that  of  "William,  though  differ- 
ently accomplished,  was  equally  a  martyrdom  for  the  liber- 
ties of  his  country.  We  cannot  enter  minutely  into  the  train 
of  circumstances  which  for  several  years  brought  Maurice 
and  Barneveldt  into  perpetual  concussion  with  each  other. 
Long  after  the  completion  of  the  truce,  which  the  latter  so 
mainly  aided  in  accomplishing,  every  minor  point  in  the 
domestic  affairs  of  the  republic  seemed  merged  in  the  con- 
flict between  the  stadtholder  and  the  pensionary.  Without 
attempting  to  specify  these,  we  may  say,  generally,  that 
almost  every  one  redounded  to  the  disgrace  of  the  prince 
and  the  honor  of  the  patriot.  But  the  main  question  of  agi- 
tation was  the  fierce  dispute  which  soon  broke  out  between 
two  professors  of  theology  of  the  university  of  Leyden, 


TO   THE    EXECUTION    OF    BARNEVELDT  251 

Francis  Gomar  and  James  Arminius.  "We  do  not  regret 
on  this  occasion  that  our  confined  limits  spare  us  the  task 
of  recording  in  detail  controversies  on  points  of  speculative 
doctrine  far  beyond  the  reach  of  the  human  understanding, 
and  therefore  presumptuous,  and  the  decision  of  which  can- 
not be  regarded  as  of  vital  importance  by  those  who  justly 
estimate  the  grand  principles  of  Christianity.  The  whole 
strength  of  the  intellects  which  had  long  been  engaged  in 
the  conflict  for  national  and  religious  liberty,  was  now 
directed  to  metaphysical  theology,  and  wasted  upon  inter- 
minable disputes  about  predestination  and  grace.  Barne- 
veldt  enrolled  himself  among  the  partisans  of  Arminius; 
Maurice  became  a  Gomarist. 

It  was,  however,  scarcely  to  be  wondered  at  that  a 
country  so  recently  delivered  from  slavery  both  in  church 
and  state  should  run  into  wild  excesses  of  intolerance,  be~ 
fore  sectarian  principles  were  thoroughly  understood  and 
definitively  fixed.  Persecutions  of  various  kinds  were  in- 
dulged in  against  Papists,  Anabaptists,  Socinians,  and  all 
the  shades  of  doctrine  into  which  Christianity  had  split. 
Every  minister  who,  in  the  milder  spirit  of  Lutheranism, 
strove  to  moderate  the  rage  of  Calvinistic  enthusiasm,  was 
openly  denounced  by  its  partisans ;  and  one,  named  Gaspard 
Koolhaas,  was  actually  excommunicated  by  a  synod,  and 
denounced  in  plain  terms  to  the  devil.  Arminius  had  been 
appointed  professor  at  Ley  den  in  1603,  for  the  mildness  of 
his  doctrines,  which  were  joined  to  most  affable  manners,  a 
happy  temper,  and  a  purity  of  conduct  which  no  calumny 
could  successfully  traduce. 

His  colleague  Gomar,  a  native  of  Bruges,  learned,  vio- 
lent, and  rigid  in  sectarian  points,  soon  became  jealous  of 
the  more  popular  professor's  influence.  A  furious  attack 
on  the  latter  was  answered  by  recrimination ;  and  the  whole 
battery  of  theological  authorities  was  reciprocally  discharged 
by  one  or  other  of  the  disputants.  The  states-general  inter- 
fered between  them :  they  were  summoned  to  appear  before 
the  council  of  state ;  and  grave  politicians  listened  for  hours 


252  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

to  the  dispute.  Arminius  obtained  the  advantage,  by  the 
apparent  reasonableness  of  his  creed,  and  the  gentleness  and 
moderation  of  his  conduct.  He  was  meek,  while  Gomar 
was  furious;  and  many  of  the  listeners  declared  that  they 
would  rather  die  with  the  charity  of  the  former  than  in  the 
faith  of  the  latter.  A  second  hearing  was  allowed  them 
before  the  states  of  Holland.  Again  Arminius  took  the 
lead;  and  the  controversy  went  on  unceasingly,  till  this 
amiable  man,  worn  out  by  his  exertions  and  the  presenti- 
ment of  the  evil  which  these  disputes  were  engendering  for 
his  country,  expired  in  his  forty-ninth  year,  piously  persist- 
ing in  his  opinions. 

The  Gomarists  now  loudly  called  for  a  national  synod, 
to  regulate  the  points  of  faith.  The  Arminians  remon- 
strated on  various  grounds,  and  thus  acquired  the  name  of 
Remonstrants,  by  which  they  were  soon  generally  distin- 
guished. The  most  deplorable  contests  ensued.  Serious 
riots  occurred  in  several  of  the  towns  of  Holland;  and 
James  I.  of  England  could  not  resist  the  temptation  of  en- 
tering the  polemical  lists,  as  a  champion  of  orthodoxy  and  a 
decided  Gomarist.  His  hostility  was  chiefly  directed  against 
Vorstius,  the  successor  and  disciple  of  Arminius.  He  pretty 
strongly  recommended  to  the  states-general  to  have  him 
burned  for  heresy.  His  inveterate  intolerance  knew  no 
bounds;  and  it  completed  the  melancholy  picture  of  ab- 
surdity which  the  whole  affair  presents  to  reasonable  minds. 

In  this  dispute,  which  occupied  and  agitated  all,  it  was 
impossible  that  Barneveldt  should  not  choose  the  congenial 
temperance  and  toleration  of  Arminius.  Maurice,  with 
probably  no  distinct  conviction  or  much  interest  in  the 
abstract  differences  on  either  side,  joined  the  Gomarists. 
His  motives  were  purely  temporal;  for  the  party  he  es- 
poused was  now  decidedly  as  much  political  as  religious. 
King  James  rewarded  him  by  conferring  on  him  the  ribbon 
of  the  Order  of  the  Garter,  vacant  by  the  dea,th  of  Henry 
IV.  of  France.  The  ceremony  of  investment  was  performed 
with  great  pomp  by  the  English  ambassador  at  The  Hague; 


TO   THE   EXECUTION   OF   BARNEVELDT  253 

and  James  and  Maurice  entered  from  that  time  into  a  closer 
and  more  uninterrupted  correspondence  than  before. 

During  the  long  continuance  of  the  theological  disputes, 
the  United  Provinces  had  nevertheless  made  rapid  strides 
toward  commercial  greatness;  and  the  year  1616  witnessed 
the  completion  of  an  affair  which  was  considered  the  consol- 
idation of  their  independence.  This  important  matter  was 
the  recovery  of  the  towns  of  Brille  and  Flessingue,  and  the 
fort  of  Rammekins,  which  had  been  placed  in  the  hands  of 
the  English  as  security  for  the  loan  granted  to  the-  republic 
by  Queen  Elizabeth.  The  whole  merit  of  the  transaction 
was  due  to  the  perseverance  and  address  of  Barneveldt 
acting  on  the  weakness  and  the  embarrassments  of  King 
James.  Religious  contention  did  not  so  fully  occupy  Barne- 
veldt but  that  he  kept  a  constant  eye  on  political  concerns. 
He  was  well  informed  on  all  that  passed  in  the  English 
court ;  he  knew  the  wants  of  James,  and  was  aware  of  his 
efforts  to  bring  about  the  marriage  of  his  son  with  the  in- 
fanta of  Spain.  The  danger  of  such  an  alliance  was  evident 
to  the  penetrating  Barneveldt,  who  saw  in  perspective  the 
probability  of  the  wily  Spaniards  obtaining  from  the  English 
monarch  possession  of  the  strong  places  in  question.  He 
therefore  resolved  on  obtaining  their  recovery ;  and  his  great 
care  was  to  get  them  back  with  a  considerable  abatement  of 
the  enormous  debt  for  which  they  stood  pledged,  and  which 
now  amounted  to  eight  million  florins. 

Barneveldt  commenced  his  operations  by  sounding  the 
needy  monarch  through  the  medium  of  Noel  Caron,  the 
ambassador  from  the  states-general ;  and  he  next  managed 
so  as  that  James  himself  should  offer  to  give  up  the  towns, 
thereby  allowing  a  fair  pretext  to  the  states  for  claiming  a 
diminution  of  the  debt.  The  English  garrisons  were  unpaid 
and  their  complaints  brought  down  a  strong  remonstrance 
from  James,  and  excuses  from  the  states,  founded  on  the 
poverty  of  their  financial  resources.  The  negotiation  rap- 
idly went  on,  in  the  same  spirit  of  avidity  on  the  part  of  the 
king,  and  of  good  management  on  that  of  his  debtors.  It 


254  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

was  finally  agreed  that  the  states  should  pay  in  full  of  the 
demand  two  million  seven  hundred  and  twenty-eight  thou- 
sand florins  (about  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds 
sterling),  being  about  one- third  of  the  debt.  Prince  Maurice 
repaired  to  the  cautionary  towns  in  the  month  of  June,  and 
received  them  at  the  hands  of  the  English  governors;  the 
garrisons  at  the  same  time  entering  into  the  service  of  the 
republic. 

The  accomplishment  of  this  measure  afforded  the  highest 
satisfaction  to  the  United  Provinces.  It  caused  infinite  dis- 
content in  England ;  and  James,  with  the  common  injustice 
of  men  who  make  a  bad  bargain  (even  though  its  conditions 
be  of  their  own  seeking  and  suited  to  their  own  convenience), 
turned  his  own  self-dissatisfaction  into  bitter  hatred  against 
him  whose  watchful  integrity  had  successfully  labored  for 
his  country's  good.  Barneveldt's  leaning  toward  France 
and  the  Arminians  filled  the  measure  of  James's  unworthy 
enmity.  Its  effects  were  soon  apparent,  on  the  arrival  at 
The  Hague  of  Carleton,  who  succeeded  Win  wood  as  James's 
ambassador.  The  haughty  pretensions  of  this  diplomatist, 
whose  attention  seemed  turned  to  theological  disputes  rather 
than  politics,  gave  great  disgust ;  and  he  contributed  not  a 
little  to  the  persecution  which  led  to  the  tragical  end  of 
Barneveldt's  valuable  life. 

"While  this  indefatigable  patriot  was  busy  in  relieving 
his  country  from  its  dependence  on  England,  his  enemies 
accused  him  of  the  wish  to  reduce  it  once  more  to  Spanish 
tyranny.  Francis  Aarsens,  son  to  him  who  proved  himself 
so  incorruptible  when  attempted  to  be  bribed  by  Neyen,  was 
one  of  the  foremost  of  the  faction  who  now  labored  for  the 
downfall  of  the  pensionary.  He  was  a  man  of  infinite  dis- 
simulation; versed  in  all  the  intrigues  of  courts;  and  so 
deep  in  all  their  tortuous  tactics  that  Cardinal  Richelieu, 
well  qualified  to  prize  that  species  of  talent,  declared  that 
he  knew  only  three  great  political  geniuses,  of  whom  Francis 
Aarsens  was  one. 

Prince  Maurice  now  almost  openly  avowed  his  preten- 


TO   THE   EXECUTION   OF   BARNEVELDT  255 

eions  to  absolute  sovereignty:  he  knew  that  his  success 
wholly  depended  on  the  consent  of  Barneveldt.  To  seduce 
him  to  favor  his  designs  he  had  recourse  to  the  dowager 
princess  of  Orange,  his  mother-in-law,  whose  gentle  char- 
acter and  exemplary  conduct  had  procured  her  universal 
esteem  and  the  influence  naturally  attendant  on  it.  Maurice 
took  care  to  make  her  understand  that  her  interest  in  his  ob- 
ject was  not  trifling.  Long  time  attached  to  Gertrude  van 
Mechlen,  his  favorite  mistress,  who  had  borne  him  several 
children,  he  now  announced  his  positive  resolution  to  re- 
main unmarried ;  so  that  his  brother  Frederick  Henry,  the 
dowager's  only  son,  would  be  sure  to  succeed  to  the  sover- 
eignty he  aimed  at.  The  princess,  not  insensible  to  this 
appeal,  followed  the  instructions  of  Maurice,  and  broached 
the  aff air  to  Barneveldt ;  but  he  was  inexorable.  He  clearly 
explained  to  her  the  perilous  career  on  which  the  prince  pro- 
posed to  enter;  he  showed  how  great,  how  independent,  how 
almost  absolute,  he  might  continue,  without  shocking  the 
principles  of  republicanism  by  grasping  at  an  empty  dignity, 
which  could  not  virtually  increase  his  authority,  and  would 
most  probably  convulse  the  state  to  its  foundation  and  lead 
to  his  own  ruin.  The  princess,  convinced  by  his  reasoning, 
repaired  to  Maurice ;  but  instead  of  finding  him  as  ready  a 
convert  as  she  herself  had  been,  she  received  as  cold  an  an- 
swer as  was  compatible  with  a  passionate  temper,  wounded 
pride,  and  disappointed  ambition.  The  princess  and  Bar- 
neveldt recounted  the  whole  affair  to  Maurier,  the  French 
ambassador;  and  his  son  has  transmitted  it  to  posterity. 
We  cannot  follow  the  misguided  prince  in  all  the  winding 
ways  of  intrigue  and  subterfuge  through  which  he  labored 
to  reach  his  object.  Religion,  'the  holiest  of  sentiments,  and 
Christianity,  the  most  sacred  of  its  forms,  were  perpetually 
degraded  by  being  made  the  pretexts  for  that  unworthy  ob- 
ject. He  was  for  a  while  diverted  from  its  direct  pursuit 
by  the  preparation  made  to  afford  assistance  to  some  of  the 
allies  of  the  republic.  Fifty  thousand  florins  a  month  were 
granted  to  the  duke  of  Savoy,  who  was  at  war  with  Spain; 


256  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

and  seven  thousand  men,  with  nearly  forty  ships,  were  de- 
spatched to  the  aid  of  the  republic  of  Venice,  in  its  contest 
with  Ferdinand,  archduke  of  Gratz,  who  was  afterward 
elected  emperor.  The  honorary  empire  of  the  seas  seems 
at  this  time  to  have  been  successfully  claimed  by  the  United 
Provinces.  They  paid  back  with  interest  the  haughty  con- 
duct with  which  they  had  been  long  treated  by  the  English; 
and  they  refused  to  pay  the  fishery  duties  to  which  the  in- 
habitants of  Great  Britain  were  subject.  The  Dutch  sail- 
ors had  even  the  temerity,  under  pretext  of  pursuing  pirates, 
to  violate  the  British  territory.  They  set  fire  to  the  town 
of  Crookhaven,  in  Ireland,  and  massacred  several  of  the 
inhabitants.  King  James,  immersed  in  theological  studies, 
appears  to  have  passed  slightly  over  this  outrage.  More 
was  to  have  been  expected  from  his  usual  attention  to  the 
affairs  of  Ireland ;  his  management  of  which  ill-fated  coun- 
try is  the  best  feature  of  his  political  character,  and  ought, 
to  Irish  feelings  at  least,  to  be  considered  to  redeem  its 
many  errors.  But  he  took  fire  at  the  news  that  the  states 
had  prohibited  the  importation  of  cloth  dyed  and  dressed  in 
England.  It  required  the  best  exertion  of  Barneveldt's  tal- 
ents to  pacify  him ;  and  it  was  not  easy  to  effect  this  through 
the  jaundiced  medium  of  the  ambassador  Carleton.  But  it 
was  unanswerably  argued  by  the  pensionary  that  the  manu- 
facture of  cloth  was  one  of  those  ancient  and  natural  sources 
of  wealth  which  England  had  ravished  from  the  Nether- 
lands, and  which  the  latter  was  justified  in  recovering  by 
every  effort  consistent  with  national  honor  and  fair  prin- 
ciples of  government. 

The  influence  of  Prince  Maurice  had  gained  complete 
success  for  the  Calvinist  party,  in  its  various  titles  of  Go- 
marists,  non-remonstrants,  etc.  The  audacity  and  violence 
of  these  ferocious  sectarians  knew  no  bounds.  Outrages, 
too  many  to  enumerate,  became  common  through  the  coun- 
try; and  Arminianism  was  on  all  sides  assailed  and  perse- 
cuted. Barreveldt  frequently  appealed  to  Maurice  without 
effect;  and  all  the  efforts  of  the  former  to  obtain  justice  by 


TO   THE   EXECUTION   OF   BARNEVELDT  257 

means  of  the  civil  authorities  were  paralyzed  by  the  inac- 
tion in  which  the  prince  retained  the  military  force.  In  this 
juncture,  the  magistrates  of  various  towns,  spurred  on  by 
Barneveldt,  called  out  the  national  militia,  termed  Waarde- 
gelders,  which  possessed  the  right  of  arming  at  its  own  ex- 
pense for  the  protection  of  the  public  peace.  Schism  upon 
schism  was  the  consequence,  and  the  whole  country  was 
reduced  to  that  state  of  anarchy  so  favorable  to  the  designs 
of  an  ambitious  soldier  already  in  the  enjoyment  of  almost 
absolute  power.  Maurice  possessed  all  the  hardihood  and 
vigor  suited  to  such  an  occasion.  At  the  head  of  two  com- 
panies of  infantry,  and  accompanied  by  his  brother  Fred- 
erick Henry,  he  suddenly  set  out  at  night  from  The  Hague; 
arrived  at  the  Brille;  and  in  defiance  of  the  remonstrances 
of  the  magistrates,  and  in  violation  of  the  rights  of  the 
town,  he  placed  his  devoted  garrison  in  that  important 
place.  To  justify  this  measure,  reports  were  spread  that 
Barneveldt  intended  to  deliver  it  up  to  the  Spaniards ;  and 
the  ignorant,  insensate,  and  ungrateful  people  swallowed 
the  calumny. 

This  and  such  minor  efforts  were,  however,  all  subservi- 
ent to  the  one  grand  object  of  utterly  destroying,  by  a  public 
proscription,  the  whole  of  the  patriot  party,  now  identified 
with  Arminianism.  A  national  synod  was  loudly  clamored 
for  by  the  Gomarists ;  and  in  spite  of  all  opposition  on  con- 
stitutional grounds,  it  was  finally  proclaimed.  Uitenbo- 
gaard,  the  enlightened  pastor  and  friend  of  Maurice,  who 
on  all  occasions  labored  for  the  general  good,  now  moder- 
ated, as  much  as  possible,  the  violence  of  either  party ;  but 
he  could  not  persuade  Barneveldt  to  render  himself,  by 
compliance,  a  tacit  accomplice  with  a  measure  that  he  con- 
ceived fraught  with  violence  to  the  public  privileges.  He 
had  an  inflexible  enemy  in  Carleton,  the  English  ambassa- 
dor. His  interference  carried  the  question ;  and  it  was  at 
his  suggestion  that  Dordrecht,  or  Dort,  was  chosen  for  the 
assembling  of  the  synod.  Du  Maurier,  the  French  am- 
bassador, acted  on  all  occasions  as  a  mediator;  but  to  ob- 


858  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

tain  influence  at  such  a  time  it  was  necessary  to  become  a 
partisan.  Several  towns — Leyden,  Gouda,  Rotterdam,  and 
some  others — made  a  last  effort  for  their  liberties,  and  formed 
a  fruitless  confederation. 

Barneveldt  solicited  the  acceptance  of  his  resignation  of 
all  his  offices.  The  states-general  implored  him  not  to  aban- 
don the  country  at  such  a  critical  moment :  he  consequently 
maintained  his  post.  Libels  the  most  vindictive  and  atro- 
cious were  published  and  circulated  against  him;  and  at 
last,  forced  from  his  silence  by  these  multiplied  calumnies, 
he  put  forward  his  "Apology,"  addressed  to  the  States  of 
Holland. 

This  dignified  vindication  only  produced  new  outrages; 
Maurice,  now  become  Prince  of  Orange  by  the  death  of  his 
elder  brother  without  children,  employed  his  whole  author- 
ity to  carry  his  object,  and  crush  Barneveldt.  At  the  head 
of  his  troops  he  seized  on  towns,  displaced  magistrates, 
trampled  under  foot  all  the  ancient  privileges  of  the  citi- 
zens, and  openly  announced  his  intention  to  overthrow  the 
federative  constitution.  His  bold  conduct  completely  terri- 
fied the  states-general.  They  thanked  him ;  they  consented 
to  disband  the  militia;  formally  invited  foreign  powers  to 
favor  and  protect  the  synod  about  to  be  held  at  Dort.  The 
return  of  Carleton  from  England,  where  he  had  gone  to 
receive  the  more  positive  promises  of  support  from  King 
James,  was  only  wanting,  to  decide  Maurice  to  take  the 
final  step ;  and  no  sooner  did  the  ambassador  arrive  at  The 
Hague  than  Barneveldt  and  his  most  able  friends,  Grotius, 
Hoogerbe^ts,  and  Ledenberg,  were  arrested  in  the  name  of 
the  states- general. 

The  country  was  taken  by  surprise;  no  resistance  was 
offered.  The  concluding  scenes  of  the  tragedy  were  hur- 
ried on;  violence  was  succeeded  by  violence,  against  public 
feeling  and  public  justice.  Maurice  became  completely  ab- 
solute in  everything  but  in  name.  The  supplications  of 
ambassadors,  the  protests  of  individuals,  the  arguments 
of  statesmen,  were  alike  unavailing  to  stop  the  torrent  of 


TO   THE   EXECUTION   OF   BARNEVELDT  259 

despotism  and  injustice.  The  synod  of  Dort  was  opened 
on  the  13th  of  November,  1618.  Theology  was  mystified; 
religion  disgraced;  Christianity  outraged.  And  after  one 
hundred  and  fifty-two  sittings,  during  six  months'  display 
of  ferocity  and  fraud,  the  solemn  mockery  was  closed  on 
the  9th  of  May,  1619,  by  the  declaration  of  its  president, 
that  "its  miraculous  labors  had  made  hell  tremble." 

Proscriptions,  banishments,  and  death  were  the  natural 
consequences  of  this  synod.  The  divisions  which  it  had 
professed  to  extinguish  were  rendered  a  thousand  tunes 
more  violent  than  before.  Its  decrees  did  incalculable  ill 
to  the  cause  they  were  meant  to  promote.  The  Anglican 
Church  was  the  first  to  reject  the  canons  of  Dort  with 
horror  and  contempt.  The  Protestants  of  France  and  Ger- 
many, and  even  Geneva,  the  nurse  and  guardian  of  Calvin- 
ism, were  shocked  and  disgusted,  and  unanimously  softened 
down  the  rigor  of  their  respective  creeds.  But  the  moral 
effects  of  this  memorable  conclave  were  too  remote  to  pre- 
vent the  sacrifice  which  almost  immediately  followed  the 
celebration  of  its  rites.  A  trial  by  twenty-four  prejudiced 
enemies,  by  courtesy  called  judges,  which  in  its  progress 
and  its  result  throws  judicial  dignity  into  scorn,  ended  in 
the  condemnation  of  Barneveldt  and  his  fellow  patriots,  for 
treason  against  the  liberties  they  had  vainly  labored  to  save. 
Barneveldt  died  on  the  scaffold  by  the  hands  of  the  execu- 
tioner on  the  13th  of  May,  1619,  in  the  seventy-second  year 
of  his  age.  Grotius  and  Hoogerbeets  were  sentenced  to  per- 
petual imprisonment.  Ledenberg  committed  suicide  in  his 
cell,  sooner  than  brave  the  tortures  which  he  anticipated  at 
the  hands  of  his  enemies. 

Many  more  pages  than  we  are  able  to  afford  sentences 
might  be  devoted  to  the  details  of  these  iniquitous  proceed- 
ings, and  an  account  of  their  awful  consummation.  The 
pious  heroism  of  Barneveldt  was  never  excelled  by  any 
martyr  to  the  most  holy  cause.  He  appealed  to  Maurice 
against  the  unjust  sentence  which  condemned  him  to  death ; 
but  he  scorned  to  beg  his  life.  He  met  his  fate  with  such 


260  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

temperate  courage  as  was  to  be  expected  from  the  dignified 
energy  of  his  life.  His  last  words  were  worthy  a  philoso- 
pher whose  thoughts,  even  in  his  latest  moments,  were  su- 
perior to  mere  personal  hope  or  fear,  and  turned  to  the  deep 
mysteries  of  his  being.  "O  God!"  cried  De  Barneveldt, 
"what  then  is  man?"  as  he  bent  his  head  to  the  sword  that 
severed  it  from  his  body,  and  sent  the  inquiring  spirit  to 
learn  the  great  mystery  for  which  it  longed. 


CHAPTER    XVII 

TO   THE   DEATH   OF   PRINCE   MAURICE 

A.D.  1619—1625 

THE  princess-dowager  of  Orange,  and  Du  Maurier,  the 
French  ambassador,  had  vainly  implored  mercy  for 
the  innocent  victim  at  the  hands  of  the  inexorable 
stadtholder.  Maurice  refused  to  see  his  mother-in-law:  he 
left  the  ambassador's  appeal  unanswered.  This  is  enough 
for  the  rigid  justice  of  history  that  cannot  be  blinded  by 
partiality,  but  hands  over  to  shame,  at  the  close  of  their 
career,  even  those  whom  she  nursed  in  the  very  cradle  of 
heroism.  But  an  accusation  has  become  current,  more  fatal 
to  the  fame  of  Prince  Maurice,  because  it  strikes  at  the  root 
of  his  claims  to  feeling,  which  could  not  be  impugned  by  a 
mere  perseverance  in  severity  that  might  have  sprung  from 
mistaken  views.  It  is  asserted,  but  only  as  general  belief, 
that  he  witnessed  the  execution  of  Barneveldt.  The  little 
window  of  an  octagonal  tower,  overlooking  the  square  of 
the  Binnenhof  at  The  Hague,  where  the  tragedy  was  acted, 
is  still  shown  as  the  spot  from  which  the  prince  gazed  on 
the  scene.  Almost  concealed  from  view  among  the  cluster- 
ing buildings  of  the  place,  it  is  well  adapted  to  give  weight 
to  the  tradition ;  but  it  may  not,  perhaps,  even  now  be  too 
late  to  raise  a  generous  incredulity  as  to  an  assertion  of 
which  no  eye-witness  attestation  is  recorded,  and  which 
might  have  been  the  invention  of  malignity.  There  are 
many  statements  of  history  which  it  is  immaterial  to  sub- 
stantiate or  disprove.  Splendid  fictions  of  public  virtue 
have  often  produced  their  good  if  once  received  as  fact; 
but,  when  private  character  is  at  stake,  every  conscientious 

(261) 


HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

writer  or  reader  will  cherish  his  "historic  doubts,"  when  he 
reflects  on  the  facility  with  which  calumny  is  sent  abroad, 
the  avidity  with  which  it  is  received,  and  the  careless  ease 
with  which  men  credit  what  it  costs  little  to  invent  and 
propagate,  but  requires  an  age  of  trouble  and  an  almost 
impossible  conjunction  of  opportunities  effectually  to  refute. 

Grotius  and  Hoogerbeets  were  confined  in  the  castle  of 
Louvestein.  Moersbergen,  a  leading  patriot  of  Utrecht,  De 
Haan,  pensionary  of  Haarlem,  and  Uitenbogaard,  the  chosen 
confidant  of  Maurice,  but  the  friend  of  Barneveldt,  were 
next  accused  and  sentenced  to  imprisonment  or  banishment. 
And  thus  Arminianism,  deprived  of  its  chiefs,  was  for  the 
time  completely  stifled.  The  Remonstrants,  thrown  into 
utter  despair,  looked  to  emigration  as  their  last  resource. 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  king  of  Sweden,  and  Frederick,  duke 
of  Holstein,  offered  them  shelter  and  protection  hi  their  re- 
spective states.  Several  availed  themselves  of  these  offers ; 
but  the  states-general,  alarmed  at  the  progress  of  self-ex- 
patriation, moderated  their  rigor,  and  thus  checked  the 
desolating  evil.  Several  of  the  imprisoned  Arminians  had 
the  good  fortune  to  elude  the  vigilance  of  their  jailers;  but 
the  escape  of  Grotius  is  the  most  remarkable  of  all,  both 
from  his  own  celebrity  as  one  of  the  first  writers  of  his  age 
in  the  most  varied  walks  of  literature,  and  from  its  peculiar 
circumstances,  which  only  found  a  parallel  hi  European 
history  after  a  lapse  of  two  centuries.  "We  allude  to  the 
escape  of  Lavalette  from  the  prison  of  the  Conciergerie  in 
Paris  in  1815,  which  so  painfully  excited  the  interest  of 
all  Europe  for  the  intended  victim's  wife,  whose  reason 
was  the  forfeit  of  her  exertion. 

Grotius  was  freely  allowed  during  his  close  imprison- 
ment all  the  relaxations  of  study.  His  friends  supplied 
him  with  quantities  of  books,  which  were  usually  brought 
into  the  fortress  in  a  trunk  two  feet  two  inches  long,  which 
the  governor  regularly  and  carefully  examined  during  the 
first  year.  But  custom  brought  relaxation  in  the  strictness 
of  the  prison  rules ;  and  the  wife  of  the  illustrious  prisoner, 


TO   THE    DEATH   OF   PRINCE   MAURICE  263 

his  faithful  and  constant  visitor,  proposed  the  plan  of  his 
escape,  to  which  he  gave  a  ready  and,  all  hazards  consid- 
ered, a  courageous  assent.  Shut  up  in  this  trunk  for  two 
hours,  and  with  all  the  risk  of  suffocation,  and  of  injury 
from  the  rude  handling  of  the  soldiers  who  carried  it  out  of 
the  fort,  Grotius  was  brought  clear  off  by  the  very  agents 
of  his  persecutors,  and  safely  delivered  to  the  care  of  his 
devoted  and  discreet  female  servant,  who  knew  the  secret 
and  kept  it  well.  She  attended  the  important  consignment 
in  the  barge  to  the  town  of  Gorcum ;  and  after  various  risks 
of  discovery,  providentially  escaped,  Grotius  at  length  found 
himself  safe  beyond  the  limits  of  his  native  land.  His  wife, 
whose  torturing  suspense  may  be  imagined  the  while,  con- 
cealed the  stratagem  as  long  as  it  was  possible  to  impose  on 
the  jailer  with  the  pardonable  and  praiseworthy  fiction  of 
her  husband's  illness  and  confinement  to  his  bed.  The  gov- 
ernment, outrageous  at  the  result  of  the  affair,  at  first  pro- 
posed to  hold  this  interesting  prisoner  in  place  of  the  prey 
they  had  lost,  and  to  proceed  criminally  against  her.  But 
after  a  fortnight's  confinement  she  was  restored  to  liberty, 
and  the  country  saved  from  the  disgrace  of  so  ungenerous 
and  cowardly  a  proceeding.  Grotius  repaired  to  Paris, 
where  he  was  received  in  the  most  flattering  manner,  and 
distinguished  by  a  pension  of  one  thousand  crowns  allowed 
by  the  king.  He  soon  published  his  vindication — one  of  the 
most  eloquent  and  unanswerable  productions  of  its  kind,  in 
which  those  times  of  unjust  accusations  and  illegal  punish- 
ments were  so  fertile. 

The  expiration  of  the  twelve  years'  truce  was  now  at 
hand ;  and  the  United  Provinces,  after  that  long  period  of 
intestine  trouble  and  disgrace,  had  once  more  to  recom- 
mence a  more  congenial  struggle  against  foreign  enemies; 
for  a  renewal  of  the  war  with  Spain  might  be  fairly  consid- 
ered a  return  to  the  regimen  best  suited  to  the  constitution 
of  the  people.  The  republic  saw,  however,  with  consider- 
able anxiety,  the  approach  of  this  new  contest.  It  was 
fully  sensible  of  its  own  weakness.  Exile  had  reduced  its 


264  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

population;  patriotism  had  subsided;  foreign  friends  were 
dead;  the  troops  were  unused  to  warfare;  the  hatred 
against  Spanish  cruelty  had  lost  its  excitement;  the 
finances  were  in  confusion;  Prince  Maurice  had  no  longer 
the  activity  of  youth ;  and  the  still  more  vigorous  impulse 
of  fighting  for  his  country's  liberty  was  changed  to  the 
dishonoring  task  of  upholding  his  own  tyranny. 

The  archdukes,  encouraged  by  these  considerations,  had 
hopes  of  bringing  back  the  United  Provinces  to  their  domi- 
nation. They  accordingly  sent  an  embassy  to  Holland  with 
proposals  to  that  effect.  It  was  received  with  indignation ; 
and  the  ambassador,  Peckius,  was  obliged  to  be  escorted 
back  to  the  frontiers  by  soldiers,  to  protect  him  from  the  in- 
sults of  the  people.  Military  operations  were,  however,  for 
a  while  refrained  from  on  either  side,  in  consequence  of  the 
deaths  of  Philip  III.  of  Spain  and  the  archduke  Albert. 
Philip  IV.  succeeded  his  father  at  the  age  of  sixteen ;  and 
the  archduchess  Isabella  found  herself  alone  at  the  head  of 
the  government  in  the  Belgian  provinces.  Olivarez  became 
as  sovereign  a  minister  in  Spain,  as  his  predecessor  the  duke 
of  Lerma  had  been ;  but  the  archduchess,  though  now  with 
only  the  title  of  stadtholderess  of  the  Netherlands,  held  the 
reins  of  power  with  a  firm  and  steady  hand. 

In  the  celebrated  thirty  years'  war  which  had  commenced 
between  the  Protestants  and  Catholics  of  Germany,  the  for- 
mer had  met  with  considerable  assistance  from  the  United 
Provinces.  Barneveldt,  who  foresaw  the  embarrassments 
which  the  country  would  have  to  contend  with  on  the  ex- 
piration of  that  truce,  had  strongly  opposed  its  meddling  in 
the  quarrel ;  but  his  ruin  and  death  left  no  restraint  on  the 
policy  which  prompted  the  republic  to  aid  the  Protestant 
cause.  Fifty  thousand  florins  a  month  to  the  revolted  Prot- 
estants, and  a  like  sum  to  the  princes  of  the  union,  were  for 
some  time  advanced.  Frederick,  the  elector  palatine,  son- 
in-law  of  the  king  of  England,  and  nephew  of  the  prince, 
was  chosen  by  the  Bohemians  for  their  king;  but  in  spite  of 
the  enthusiastic  wishes  of  the  English  nation,  James  per- 


TO   THE   DEATH   OF   PRINCE   MAURICE  265 

eisted  in  refusing  to  interfere  in  Frederick's  favor.  France, 
governed  by  De  Luynes,  a  favorite  whose  influence  was 
deeply  pledged,  and,  it  is  said,  dearly  sold  to  Spain,  aban- 
doned the  system  of  Henry  IV.,  and  upheld  the  House  of 
Austria.  Thus  the  new  monarch,  only  aided  by  the  United 
Provinces,  and  that  feebly,  was  soon  driven  from  his  tem- 
porary dignity;  his  hereditary  dominions  in  the  palatinate 
were  overrun  by  the  Spanish  army  under  Spinola;  and 
Frederick,  utterly  defeated  at  the  battle  of  Prague,  was 
obliged  to  take  refuge  in  Holland.  James's  abandonment 
of  his  son-in-law  has  been  universally  blamed  by  almost 
every  historian.  He  certainly  allowed  a  few  generous  in- 
dividuals to  raise  a  regiment  in  England  of  two  thousand 
four  hundred  chosen  soldiers,  who,  under  the  command  of 
the  gallant  Sir  Horace  Vere,  could  only  vainly  regret  the 
impossibility  of  opposition  to  ten  times  their  number  of 
veteran  troops. 

This  contest  was  carried  on  at  first  with  almost  all  the 
advantages  on  the  side  of  the  House  of  Austria.  Two  men 
of  extraordinary  character,  which  presented  a  savage  par- 
ody of  military  talent,  and  a  courage  chiefly  remarkable  for 
the  ferocity  into  which  it  degenerated,  struggled  for  a  while 
against  the  imperial  arms.  These  were  the  count  of  Mans- 
field and  Christian  of  Brunswick.  At  the  head  of  two  des- 
perate bands,  which,  by  dint  of  hard  fighting,  acquired 
something  of  the  consistency  of  regular  armies,  they  main- 
tained a  long  resistance;  but  the  duke  of  Bavaria,  com- 
manding the  troops  of  the  emperor,  and  Count  Tilly  at 
the  head  of  those  of  Spain,  completed  in  the  year  1622  the 
defeat  of  their  daring  and  semi-barbarous  opponents. 

Spinola  was  resolved  to  commence  the  war  against  the 
republic  by  some  important  exploit.  He  therefore  laid  siege 
to  Berg-op-Zoom,  a  place  of  great  consequence,  command- 
ing the  navigation  of  the  Meuse  and  the  coasts  of  all  the 
islands  of  Zealand.  But  Maurice,  roused  from  the  lethargy 
of  despotism  which  seemed  to  have  wholly  changed  his 

character,  repaired  to  the  scene  of  threatened  danger;  and 
Holland. — 12 


HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

succeeded,  after  a  series  of  desperate  efforts  on  both  sides,  to 
raise  the  siege,  forcing  Spinola  to  abandon  his  attempt  with 
a  loss  of  upward  of  twelve  thousand  men.  Frederick  Henry 
in  the  meantime  had  made  an  incursion  into  Brabant  with  a 
body  of  light  troops;  and  ravaging  the  country  up  to  the 
very  gates  of  Mechlin,  Louvain,  and  Brussels,  levied  con- 
tributions to  the  amount  of  six  hundred  thousand  florins. 
The  states  completed  this  series  of  good  fortune  by  obtain- 
ing the  possession  of  West  Friesland,  by  means  of  Count 
Mansfield,  whom  they  had  despatched  thither  at  the  head  of 
his  formidable  army,  and  who  had,  in  spite  of  the  opposition 
of  Count  Tilly,  successfully  performed  his  mission. 

We  must  now  turn  from  these  brief  records  of  military 
affairs,  the  more  pleasing  theme  for  the  historian  of  the 
Netherlands  in  comparison  with  domestic  events,  which 
claim  attention  but  to  create  sensations  of  regret  and  cen- 
sure. Prince  Maurice  had  enjoyed  without  restraint  the 
fruits  of  his  ambitious  daring.  His  power  was  uncontrolled 
and  unopposed,  but  it  was  publicly  odious;  and  private  re- 
sentments were  only  withheld  by  fear,  and,  perhaps,  in  some 
measure  by  the  moderation  and  patience  which  distinguished 
the  disciples  of  Arminianism.  In  the  midst,  however,  of  the 
apparent  calm,  a  deep  conspiracy  was  formed  against  the 
life  of  the  prince.  The  motives,  the  conduct,  and  the  ter- 
mination of  this  plot,  excite  feelings  of  many  opposite  kinds. 
We  cannot,  as  in  former  instances,  wholly  execrate  the  de- 
sign and  approve  the  punishment.  Commiseration  is  min- 
gled with  blame,  when  we  mark  the  sons  of  Barneveldt, 
urged  on  by  the  excess  of  filial  affection  to  avenge  their  ven- 
erable father's  fate ;  and  despite  our  abhorrence  for  the  ob- 
ject hi  view,  we  sympathize  with  the  conspirators  rather 
than  the  intended  victim.  William  von  Stoutenbourg  and 
Renier  de  Groeneveld  were  the  names  of  these  two  sons  of 
the  late  pensionary.  The  latter  was  the  younger;  but,  of 
more  impetuous  character  than  his  brother,  he  was  the  prin- 
cipal in  the  plot.  Instead  of  any  efforts  to  soften  down  the 
hatred  of  this  unfortunate  family,  these  brothers  had  been 


267 

removed  from  their  employments,  their  property  was  confis- 
cated, and  despair  soon  urged  them  to  desperation.  In  such 
a  time  of  general  discontent  it  was  easy  to  find  accomplices. 
Seven  or  eight  determined  men  readily  joined  in  the  plot; 
of  these,  two  were  Catholics,  the  rest  Arminians ;  the  chief  of 
whom  was  Henry  Slatius,  a  preacher  of  considerable  elo- 
quence, talent,  and  energy.  It  was  first  proposed  to  attack 
the  prince  at  Rotterdam;  but  the  place  was  soon  after 
changed  for  Ryswyk,  a  village  near  The  Hague,  and  after- 
ward celebrated  by  the  treaty  of  peace  signed  there  and 
which  bears  its  name.  Ten  other  associates  were  soon  en- 
gaged by  the  exertions  of  Slatius:  these  were  Anninian 
artisans  and  sailors,  to  whom  the  actual  execution  of  the 
murder  was  to  be  confided ;  and  they  were  persuaded  that 
it  was  planned  with  the  connivance  of  Prince  Frederick 
Henry,  who  was  considered  by  the  Arminians  as  the  secret 
partisan  of  their  sect.  The  6th  of  February  was  fixed  on 
for  the  accomplishment  of  the  deed.  The  better  to  conceal 
the  design,  the  conspirators  agreed  to  go  unarmed  to  the 
place,  where  they  were  to  find  a  box  containing  pistols  and 
poniards  in  a  spot  agreed  upon.  The  death  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange  was  not  the  only  object  intended.  During  the  con- 
fusion subsequent  to  the  hoped-for  success  of  that  first  blow, 
the  chief  conspirators  intended  to  excite  simultaneous  re- 
volts at  Leyden,  Gouda,  and  Rotterdam,  in  which  towns  the 
Arminians  were  most  numerous.  A  general  revolution 
throughout  Holland  was  firmly  reckoned  on  as  the  infal- 
lible result;  and  success  was  enthusiastically  looked  for  to 
their  country's  freedom  and  their  individual  fame. 

But  the  plot,  however  cautiously  laid  and  resolutely  per- 
severed in,  was  doomed  to  the  fate  of  many  another;  and 
the  horror  of  a  second  murder  (but  with  far  different  provo- 
cation from  the  first)  averted  from  the  illustrious  family  to 
whom  was  still  destined  the  glory  of  consolidating  the  coun- 
try it  had  formed.  Two  brothers  named  Blansaart,  and  one 
Parthy,  having  procured  a  considerable  sum  of  money  from 
the  leading  conspirators,  repaired  to  The  Hague,  as  they  as- 


268  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

serted,  for  the  purpose  of  betraying  the  plot ;  but  they  were 
forestalled  in  this  purpose :  four  of  the  sailors  had  gone  out 
to  Ryswyk  the  preceding  evening,  and  laid  the  whole  of  the 
project,  together  with  the  wages  of  their  intended  crime, 
before  the  prince;  who,  it  would  appear,  then  occupied  the 
ancient  chateau,  which  no  longer  exists  at  Ryswyk.  The 
box  of  arms  was  found  in  the  place  pointed  out  by  the  in- 
formers, and  measures  were  instantly  taken  to  arrest  the 
various  accomplices.  Several  were  seized.  Groeneveld  had 
escaped  along  the  coast  disguised  as  a  fisherman,  and  had 
nearly  effected  his  passage  to  England,  when  he  was  recog- 
nized and  arrested  in  the  island  of  Vlieland.  Slatius  and 
others  were  also  intercepted  in  their  attempts  at  escape. — 
Stoutenbourg,  the  most  culpable  of  all,  was  the  most  fortu- 
nate ;  probably  from  the  energy  of  character  which  marks 
the  difference  between  a  bold  adventurer  and  a  timid  specu- 
lator. He  is  believed  to  have  passed  from  The  Hague  in  the 
same  manner  as  Grotius  quitted  his  prison ;  and,  by  the  aid 
of  a  faithful  servant,  he  accomplished  his  escape  through 
various  perils,  and  finally  reached  Brussels,  where  the  arch- 
duchess Isabella  took  him  under  her  special  protection.  He 
for  several  years  made  efforts  to  be  allowed  to  return  to 
Holland ;  but  finding  them  hopeless,  even  after  the  death  of 
Maurice,  he  embraced  the  Catholic  religion,  and  obtained 
the  command  of  a  troop  of  Spanish  cavalry,  at  the  head  of 
which  he  made  incursions  into  his  native  country,  carrying 
before  him  a  black  flag  with  the  effigy  of  a  death's  head, 
to  announce  the  mournful  vengeance  which  he  came  to 
execute. 

Fifteen  persons  were  executed  for  the  conspiracy.  If 
ever  mercy  was  becoming  to  a  man,  it  would  have  been 
pre-eminently  so  to  Maurice  on  this  occasion;  but  he  was 
inflexible  as  adamant.  The  mother,  the  wife,  and  the  son 
of  Groeneveld,  threw  themselves  at  his  feet,  imploring  par- 
don. Prayers,  tears  and  sobs  were  alike  ineffectual.  It  is 
even  said  that  Maurice  asked  the  wretched  mother  "why 
she  begged  mercy  for  her  son,  having  refused  to  do  as  much 


TO   THE   DEATH   OF   PRINCE    MAURICE  369 

for  her  husband?"  To  which  cruel  question  she  is  reported 
to  have  made  the  sublime  answer — "Because  my  son  is 
guilty,  and  my  husband  was  not." 

These  bloody  executions  caused  a  deep  sentiment  of 
gloom.  The  conspiracy  excited  more  pity  for  the  victims 
than  horror  for  the  intended  crime.  Maurice,  from  being 
the  idol  of  his  countrymen,  was  now  become  an  object  of 
their  fear  and  dislike.  "When  he  moved  from  town  to  town, 
the  people  no  longer  hailed  him  with  acclamations;  and 
even  the  common  tokens  of  outward  respect  were  at  times 
withheld.  The  Spaniards,  taking  advantage  of  the  internal 
weakness  consequent  on  this  state  of  public  feeling  in  the 
States,  made  repeated  incursions  into  the  provinces,  which 
were  now  united  but  in  title,  not  in  spirit.  Spinola  was  once 
more  in  the  field,  and  had  invested  the  important  town  of 
Breda,  which  was  the  patrimonial  inheritance  of  the  princes 
of  Orange.  Maurice  was  oppressed  with  anxiety  and  re- 
gret; and,  for  the  sake  of  his  better  feelings,  it  may  be 
hoped,  with  remorse.  He  could  effect  nothing  against  his 
rival ;  and  he  saw  his  own  laurels  withering  from  his  care- 
worn brow.  The  only  hope  left  of  obtaining  the  so  much 
wanted  supplies  of  money  was  in  the  completion  of  a  new 
treaty  with  France  and  England.  Cardinal  Richelieu,  de- 
sirous of  setting  bounds  to  the  ambition  and  the  successes 
of  the  House  of  Austria,  readily  came  into  the  views  of  the 
States ;  and  an  obligation  for  a  loan  of  one  million  two  hun- 
dred thousand  livres  during  the  year  1624,  and  one  million 
more  for  each  of  the  two  succeeding  years,  was  granted  by 
the  king  of  France,  on  condition  that  the  republic  made  no 
new  truce  with  Spain  without  his  mediation. 

An  alliance  nearly  similar  was  at  the  same  time  con- 
cluded with  England.  Perpetual  quarrels  on  commercial 
questions  loosened  the  ties  which  bound  the  States  to  their 
ancient  allies.  The  failure  of  his  son's  intended  marriage 
with  the  infanta  of  Spain  had  opened  the  eyes  of  King 
James  to  the  way  in  which  he  was  despised  by  those  who 
seemed  so  much  to  respect  him.  He  was  highly  indignant; 


270  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

and  he  undertook  to  revenge  himself  by  aiding  the  republic. 
He  agreed  to  furnish  six  thousand  men,  and  supply  the 
funds  for  their  pay,  with  a  provision  for  repayment  by 
the  States  at  the  conclusion  of  a  peace  with  Spain. 

Prince  Maurice  had  no  opportunity  of  reaping  the  ex- 
pected advantages  from  these  treaties.  Baffled  in  all  his 
efforts  for  relieving  Breda,  and  being  unsuccessful  in  a  new 
attempt  upon  Antwerp,  he  returned  to  The  Hague,  where 
a  lingering  illness,  that  had  for  some  time  exhausted  him, 
terminated  in  his  death  on  the  23d  of  April,  1625,  in  his 
fifty-ninth  year.  Most  writers  attribute  this  event  to  agita- 
tion at  being  unable  to  relieve  Breda  from  the  attack  of 
Spinola.  It  is  in  any  case  absurd  to  suppose  that  the  loss 
of  a  single  town  could  have  produced  so  fatal  an  effect  on 
one  whose  life  had  been  an  almost  continual  game  of  the 
chances  of  war.  But  cause  enough  for  Maurice's  death 
may  be  found  in  the  wearing  effects  of  thirty  years  of 
active  military  service,  and  the  more  wasting  ravages  of 
half  as  many  of  domestic  despotism. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

TO    THE    TREATY    OF    MUN8TER 
A.D.   1625-1648 

FREDERICK  HENRY  succeeded  to  almost  all  his 
brother's  titles  and  employments,  and  found  his 
new  dignities  clogged  with  an  accumulation  of 
difficulties  sufficient  to  appall  the  most  determined  spirit. 
Everything  seemed  to  justify  alarm  and  despondency.  If 
the  affairs  of  the  republic  in  India  wore  an  aspect  of  pros- 
perity, those  in  Europe  presented  a  picture  of  past  disaster 
and  approaching  peril.  Disunion  and  discontent,  an  almost 
insupportable  weight  of  taxation,  and  the  disputes  of  which 
it  was  the  fruitful  source,  formed  the  subjects  of  internal 
ill.  Abroad  was  to  be  seen  navigation  harassed  and  tram- 
melled by  the  pirates  of  Dunkirk ;  and  the  almost  defence- 
less frontiers  of  the  republic  exposed  to  the  irruptions  of  the 
enemy.  The  king  of  Denmark,  who  endeavored  to  make 
head  against  the  imperialist  and  Spanish  forces,  was  beaten 
by  Tilly,  and  made  to  tremble  for  the  safety  of  his  own 
States.  England  did  nothing  toward  the  common  cause  of 
Protestantism,  in  consequence  of  the  weakness  of  the  mon- 
arch ;  and  civil  dissensions  for  a  while  disabled  France  from 
resuming  the  system  of  Henry  IV.  for  humbling  the  House 
of  Austria. 

Frederick  Henry  was  at  this  period  in  his  forty-second 
year.  His  military  reputation  was  well  established;  he 
soon  proved  his  political  talents.  He  commenced  his  ca- 
reer by  a  total  change  in  the  tone  of  government  on  the 
subject  of  sectarian  differences.  He  exercised  several  acts 
of  clemency  in  favor  of  the  imprisoned  and  exiled  Armin- 

(271) 


272  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

ians,  at  the  same  time  that  he  upheld  the  dominant  relig- 
ion. By  these  measures  he  conciliated  all  parties;  and  by 
degrees  the  fierce  spirit  of  intolerance  became  subdued. 
The  foreign  relations  of  the  United  Provinces  now  pre- 
sented the  anomalous  policy  of  a  fleet  furnished  by  the 
French  king,  manned  by  rigid  Calvinists,  and  commanded 
by  a  grandson  of  Admiral  Coligny,  for  the  purpose  of  com- 
bating the  remainder  of  the  French  Huguenots,  whom  they 
considered  as  brothers  in  religion,  though  political  foes;  and 
during  the  joint  expedition  which  was  undertaken  by  the 
allied  French  and  Dutch  troops  against  Eochelle,  the  strong- 
hold of  Protestantism,  the  preachers  of  Holland  put  up 
prayers  for  the  protection  of  those  whom  their  army  was 
marching  to  destroy.  The  states-general,  ashamed  of  this 
unpopular  union,  recalled  their  fleet,  after  some  severe  fight- 
ing with  that  of  the  Huguenots.  Cardinal  Richelieu  and 
the  king  of  France  were  for  a  time  furious  in  their  displeas- 
ure; but  interests  of  state  overpowered  individual  resent- 
ments, and  no  rupture  took  place. 

Charles  I.  had  now  succeeded  his  father  on  the  English 
throne.  He  renewed  the  treaty  with  the  republic,  which 
furnished  him  with  twenty  ships  to  assist  his  own  formidable 
fleet  in  his  war  against  Spain.  Frederick  Henry  had,  soon 
after  his  succession  to  the  chief  command,  commenced  an 
active  course  of  martial  operations,  and  was  successful  in 
almost  all  his  enterprises.  He  took  Groll  and  several  other 
towns;  and  it  was  hoped  that  his  successes  would  have  been 
pushed  forward  upon  a  wider  field  of  action  against  the  im- 
perial arms;  but  the  States  prudently  resolved  to  act  on  the 
defensive  by  land,  choosing  the  sea  for  the  theatre  of  their 
more  active  operations.  All  the  hopes  of  a  powerful  con- 
federation against  the  emperor  and  the  king  of  Spain  seemed 
frustrated  by  the  war  which  now  broke  out  between  France 
and  England.  The  states-general  contrived  by  great  pru- 
dence to  maintain  a  strict  neutrality  in  this  quarrel.  They 
even  succeeded  in  mediating  a  peace  between  the  rival  pow- 
ers, which  was  concluded  the  following  year;  and  in  the 


273 

meantime  they  obtained  a  more  astonishing  and  important 
series  of  triumphs  against  the  Spanish  fleets  than  had  yet 
been  witnessed  in  naval  conflicts. 

The  West  India  Company  had  confided  the  command  of 
their  fleet  to  Peter  Hein,  a  most  intrepid  and  intelligent 
sailor,  who  proved  his  own  merits,  and  the  sagacity  of  his 
employers  on  many  occasions,  two  of  them  of  an  extraordi- 
nary nature.  In  1627,  he  defeated  a  fleet  of  twenty-six 
vessels,  with  a  much  inferior  force.  In  the  following  year, 
he  had  the  still  more  brilliant  good  fortune,  near  Havana, 
in  the  island  of  Cuba,  in  an  engagement  with  the  great 
Spanish  armament,  called  the  Money  Fleet,  to  indicate  the 
immense  wealth  which  it  contained.  The  booty  was  safely 
carried  to  Amsterdam,  and  the  whole  of  the  treasure,  in 
money,  precious  stones,  indigo,  etc.,  was  estimated  at  the 
value  of  twelve  million  florins.  This  was  indeed  a  victory 
worth  gaining,  won  almost  without  bloodshed,  and  raising 
the  republic  far  above  the  manifold  difficulties  by  which  it 
had  been  embarrassed.  Hein  perished  in  the  following 
year,  in  a  combat  with  some  of  the  pirates  of  Dunkirk — 
those  terrible  freebooters  whose  name  was  a  watchword  of 
terror  during  the  whole  continuance  of  the  war. 

The  year  1629  brought  three  formidable  armies  at  once 
to  the  frontiers  of  the  republic,  and  caused  a  general  dismay 
all  through  the  United  Provinces;  but  the  immense  treas- 
ures taken  from  the  Spaniards  enabled  them  to  make  prepa- 
rations suitable  to  the  danger;  and  Frederick  Henry,  sup- 
ported by  his  cousin  William  of  Nassau,  his  natural  brother 
Justin,  and  other  brave  and  experienced  officers,  defeated 
every  effort  of  the  enemy.  He  took  many  towns  in  rapid 
succession;  and  finally  forced  the  Spaniards  to  abandon  all 
notion  of  invading  the  territories  of  the  republic.  Deprived 
of  the  powerful  talents  of  Spinola,  who  was  called  to  com- 
mand the  Spanish  troops  in  Italy,  the  armies  of  the  arch- 
duchess, under  the  count  of  Berg,  were  not  able  to  cope 
with  the  genius  of  the  Prince  of  Orange.  The  consequence 
was  the  renewal  of  negotiations  for  a  second  truce.  But 


274  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

these  were  received  on  the  part  of  the  republic  with  a  burst 
of  opposition.  All  parties  seemed  decided  on  that  point; 
and  every  interest,  however  opposed  on  minor  questions, 
combined  to  give  a  positive  negative  on  this. 

The  gratitude  of  the  country  for  the  services  of  Fred- 
erick Henry  induced  the  provinces  of  which  he  was  stadt- 
holder  to  grant  the  reversion  in  this  title  to  his  son,  a  child 
of  three  years  old ;  and  this  dignity  had  every  chance  of  be- 
coming as  absolute,  as  it  was  now  pronounced  almost  heredi- 
tary, by  the  means  of  an  army  of  one  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  men  devoted  to  their  chief.  However,  few  mili- 
tary occurrences  took  place,  the  sea  being  still  chosen  as 
the  element  best  suited  to  the  present  enterprises  of  the 
republic.  In  the  widely-distant  settlements  of  Brazil  and 
Batavia,  the  Dutch  were  equally  successful ;  and  the  East 
and  "West  India  companies  acquired  eminent  power  and 
increasing  solidity. 

The  year  1631  was  signalized  by  an  expedition  into  Flan- 
ders, consisting  of  eighteen  thousand  men,  intended  against 
Dunkirk,  but  hastily  abandoned,  in  spite  of  every  probabil- 
ity of  success,  by  the  commissioners  of  the  states-general, 
who  accompanied  the  army,  and  thwarted  all  the  ardor  and 
vigor  of  the  Prince  of  Orange.  But  another  great  naval 
victory  in  the  narrow  seas  of  Zealand  recompensed  the  dis- 
appointments of  this  inglorious  affair. 

The  splendid  victories  of  Augustus  Adolphus  against  the 
imperial  arms  in  Germany  changed  the  whole  face  of  Euro- 
pean affairs.  Protestantism  began  once  more  to  raise  its 
head;  and  the  important  conquests  by  Frederick  Henry  of 
almost  all  the  strong  places  on  the  Meuse,  including  Maes- 
tricht,  the  strongest  of  all,  gave  the  United  Provinces  their 
ample  3hare  in  the  glories  of  the  war.  The  death  of  the 
archduchess  Isabella,  which  took  place  at  Brussels  in  the 
year  1633,  added  considerably  to  the  difficulties  of  Spain  in 
the  Belgian  provinces.  The  defection  of  the  count  of  Berg, 
the  chief  general  of  their  armies,  who  was  actuated  by  re- 
sentment on  the  appointment  of  the  marquis  of  St.  Croix 


TO    THE    TREATY    OF    MUNSTER  275 

over  his  head,  threw  everything  into  confusion,  in  exposing 
a  widespread  confederacy  among  the  nobility  of  these  prov- 
inces to  erect  themselves  into  an  independent  republic, 
strengthened  by  a  perpetual  alliance  with  the  United  Prov- 
inces against  the  power  of  Spain.  But  the  plot  failed, 
chiefly,  it  is  said,  by  the  imprudence  of  the  king  of  Eng- 
land, who  let  the  secret  slip,  from  some  motives  vaguely 
hinted  at,  but  never  sufficiently  explained.  After  the  death 
of  Isabella,  the  prince  of  Brabancon  was  arrested.  The 
prince  of  Epinoi  and  the  duke  of  Burnonville  made  thei? 
escape;  and  the  duke  of  Arschot,  who  was  arrested  in 
Spain,  was  soon  liberated,  in  consideration  of  some  discov- 
eries into  the  nature  of  the  plot.  An  armistice,  published 
in  1634,  threw  this  whole  affair  into  complete  oblivion. 

The  king  of  Spain  appointed  his  brother  Ferdinand,  a 
cardinal  and  archbishop  of  Toledo,  to  the  dignity  of  gov- 
ernor-general of  the  Netherlands.  He  repaired  to  Germany 
at  the  head  of  seventeen  thousand  men,  and  bore  his  share 
in  the  victory  of  Nordlingen ;  after  which  he  hastened  to  the 
Netherlands,  and  made  his  entry  into  Brussels  in  1634. 
Richelieu  had  hitherto  only  combated  the  house  of  Austria 
in  these  countries  by  negotiation  and  intrigue ;  but  he  now 
entered  warmly  into  the  proposals  made  by  Holland  for  a 
treaty  offensive  and  defensive  between  Louis  XIII.  and  the 
republic.  By  a  treaty  soon  after  concluded  (February  8, 
1635)  the  king  of  France  engaged  to  invade  the  Belgian 
provinces  with  an  army  of  thirty  thousand  men,  in  concert 
with  a  Dutch  force  of  equal  number.  It  was  agreed  that 
if  Belgium  would  consent  to  break  from  the  Spanish  yoke 
it  was  to  be  erected  into  a  free  state ;  if,  on  the  contrary, 
it  would  not  co-operate  for  its  own  freedom,  France  and 
Holland  were  to  dismember,  and  to  divide  it  equally. 

The  plan  of  these  combined  measures  was  soon  acted 
on.  The  French  army  took  the  field  under  the  command 
of  the  marshals  De  Chatillon  and  De  Breeze;  and  defeated 
the  Spaniards  in  a  bloody  battle,  near  Avein,  in  the  province 
of  Luxemburg,  on  the  20th  of  May,  1635,  with  the  loss  of 


876  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

four  thousand  men.  The  victors  soon  made  a  junction  with 
the  Prince  of  Orange;  and  the  towns  of  Tirlemont,  St. 
Trond,  and  some  others,  were  quickly  reduced.  The  for- 
mer of  these  places  was  taken  by  assault,  and  pillaged  with 
circumstances  of  cruelty  that  recall  the  horrors  of  the  early 
transactions  of  the  war.  The  Prince  of  Orange  was  forced 
to  punish  severely  the  authors  of  these  offences.  The  con- 
sequences of  this  event  were  highly  injurious  to  the  allies. 
A  spirit  of  fierce  resistance  was  excited  throughout  the  in- 
vaded provinces.  Louvain  set  the  first  example.  The  citi- 
zens and  students  took  arms  for  its  defence;  and  the  com- 
bined forces  of  France  and  Holland  were  repulsed,  and 
forced  by  want  of  supplies  to  abandon  the  siege,  and  rap- 
idly retreat.  The  prince-cardinal,  as  Ferdinand  was  called, 
took  advantage  of  this  reverse  to  press  the  retiring  French; 
recovered  several  towns;  and  gained  all  the  advantages  as 
well  as  glory  of  the  campaign.  The  remains  of  the  French 
army,  reduced  by  continual  combats,  and  still  more  by  sick- 
ness, finally  embarked  at  Rotterdam,  to  return  to  France  in 
the  ensuing  spring,  a  sad  contrast  to  its  brilliant  appearance 
at  the  commencement  of  the  campaign. 

The  military  events  for  several  ensuing  years  present 
nothing  of  sufficient  interest  to  induce  us  to  record  them 
in  detail.  A  perpetual  succession  of  sieges  and  skirmishes 
afford  a  monotonous  picture  of  isolated  courage  and  skill; 
but  we  see  none  of  those  great  conflicts  which  bring  out  the 
genius  of  opposing  generals,  and  show  war  in  its  grand  re- 
sults, as  the  decisive  means  of  enslaving  or  emancipating 
mankind.  The  prince-cardinal,  one  of  the  many  who  on 
this  bloody  theatre  displayed  consummate  military  talents, 
incessantly  employee*  himself  in  incursions  into  the  border- 
ing provinces  of  France,  ravaged  Picardy,  and  filled  Paris 
with  fear  and  trembling.  He,  however,  reaped  no  new 
laurels  when  he  came  into  contact  with  Frederick  Henry, 
who,  on  almost  every  occasion,  particularly  that  of  the  siege 
of  Breda,  hi  1637,  carried  his  object  in  spite  of  all  opposi- 
tion. The  triumphs  of  war  were  balanced;  but  Spain  and 


the  Belgian  provinces,  so  long  upheld  by  the  talent  of  the 
governor-general,  were  gradually  become  exhausted.  The 
revolution  in  Portugal,  and  the  succession  of  the  duke  of 
Braganza,  under  the  title  of  John  IV. ,  to  the  throne  of  his 
ancestors,  struck  a  fatal  blow  to  the  power  of  Spain.  A 
strict  alliance  was  concluded  between  the  new  monarch  of 
France  and  Holland;  and  hostilities  against  the  common 
enemy  were  on  all  sides  vigorously  continued. 

The  successes  of  the  republic  at  sea  and  in  their  distant 
enterprises  were  continual,  and  in  some  instances  brilliant. 
Brazil  was  gradually  falling  into  the  power  of  the  West 
India  Company.  The  East  India  possessions  were  secure. 
The  great  victory  of  Van  Tromp,  known  by  the  name  of 
the  battle  of  the  Downs,  from  being  fought  off  the  coast 
of  England,  on  the  21st  of  October,  1639,  raised  the  naval 
reputation  of  Holland  as  high  as  it  could  well  be  carried. 
Fifty  ships  taken,  burned,  and  sunk,  were  the  proofs  of 
their  admiral's  triumph;  and  the  Spanish  navy  never  re- 
covered the  loss.  The  victory  was  celebrated  throughout 
Europe,  and  Van  Tromp  was  the  hero  of  the  day.  The 
king  of  England  was,  however,  highly  indignant  at  the 
hardihood  with  which  the  Dutch  admiral  broke  through 
the  etiquette  of  territorial  respect,  and  destroyed  his  coun- 
try's bitter  foes  under  the  very  sanction  of  English  neutral- 
ity. But  the  subjects  of  Charles  I.  did  not  partake  their 
monarch's  feelings.  They  had  no  sympathy  with  arbitrary 
and  tyrannic  government ;  and  their  joy  at  the  misfortune 
of  their  old  enemies  the  Spaniards  gave  a  fair  warning  of 
the  spirit  which  afterward  proved  so  fatal  to  the  infatuated 
king,  who  on  this  occasion  would  have  protected  and  aided 
them. 

In  an  unsuccessful  enterprise  in  Flanders,  Count  Henry 
Casimir  of  Nassau  was  mortally  wounded,  adding  another 
to  the  list  of  those  of  that  illustrious  family  whose  lives  were 
lost  in  the  service  of  their  country.  His  brother,  Count 
William  Frederick,  succeeded  him  in  his  office  of  stadt- 
holder  of  Friesland ;  but  the  same  dignity  in  the  provinces 


278  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

of  Groningen  and  Drent  devolved  on  the  Prince  of  Orange. 
The  latter  had  conceived  the  desire  of  a  royal  alliance  for 
his  son  William.  Charles  I.  readily  assented  to  the  pro- 
posal of  the  states- general  that  this  young  prince  should 
receive  the  hand  of  his  daughter  Mary.  Embassies  were 
exchanged;  the  conditions  of  the  contract  agreed  on;  but 
it  was  not  till  two  years  later  that  Van  Tromp,  with  an 
escort  of  twenty  ships,  conducted  the  princess,  then  twelve 
years  old,  to  the  country  of  her  future  husband.  The  re- 
public did  not  view  with  an  eye  quite  favorable  this  advanc- 
ing aggrandizement  of  the  House  of  Orange.  Frederick 
Kerry  had  shortly  before  been  dignified  by  the  king  of 
Fracce,  at  the  suggestion  of  Richelieu,  with  the  title  of 
"highness,"  instead  of  the  inferior  one  of  "excellency"; 
and  the  states-general,  jealous  of  this  distinction  granted 
to  their  chief  magistrate,  adopted  for  themselves  the  sound- 
ing appellation  of  "high  and  mighty  lords."  The  Prince 
of  Orange,  whatever  might  have  been  his  private  views  of 
ambition,  had  however  the  prudence  to  silence  all  suspicion, 
by  the  mild  and  moderate  use  which  he  made  of  the  power, 
which  he  might  perhaps  have  wished  to  increase,  but  never 
attempted  to  abuse. 

On  the  9th  of  November,  1641,  the  prince-cardinal  Ferdi- 
nand died  at  Brussels  in  his  thirty -third  year;  another  in- 
stance of  those  who  were  cut  off,  in  the  very  vigor  of  man- 
hood, from  worldly  dignities  and  the  exercise  of  the  painful 
and  inauspicious  duties  of  governor-general  of  the  Nether- 
lands. Don  Francisco  de  Mello,  a  nobleman  of  highly  re- 
puted talents,  was  the  next  who  obtained  this  onerous  situ- 
ation. He  commenced  his  governorship  by  a  succession  of 
military  operations,  by  which,  like  most  of  his  predecessors, 
he  is  alone  distinguished.  Acts  of  civil  administration  are 
scarcely  noticed  by  the  historians  of  these  men.  Not  one 
of  them,  with  the  exception  of  the  archduke  Albert,  seems 
to  have  valued  the  internal  interests  of  the  government; 
and  he  alone,  perhaps,  because  they  were  declared  and 
secured  as  his  own.  De  Mello,  after  taking  some  towns, 


TO   THE   TREATY   OF   MUNSTEB  279 

and  defeating  the  marshal  De  Guiche  in  the  battle  of 
Hannecourt,  tarnished  all  his  fame  by  the  great  faults 
which  he  committed  in  the  famous  battle  of  Rocroy.  The 
duke  of  Enghien,  then  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  subse- 
quently so  celebrated  as  the  great  Conde,  completely  de- 
feated De  Mello,  and  nearly  annihilated  the  Spanish  and 
Walloon  infantry.  The  military  operations  of  the  Dutch 
army  were  this  year  only  remarkable  by  the  gallant  con- 
duct of  Prince  "William,  son  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  who, 
not  yet  seventeen  years  of  age,  defeated,  near  Hulst,  under 
the  eyes  of  his  father,  a  Spanish  detachment  in  a  very  warm 
skirmish. 

Considerable  changes  were  now  insensibly  operating  in 
the  policy  of  Europe.  Cardinal  Richelieu  had  finished  his 
dazzling  but  tempestuous  career  of  government,  in  which 
the  hand  of  death  arrested  him  on  the  4th  of  December, 
1642.  Louis  XIII.  soon  followed  to  the  grave  him  who  was 
rather  his  master  than  his  minister.  Anne  of  Austria  was 
declared  regent  during  the  minority  of  her  son,  Louis  XIV., 
then  only  five  years  of  age ;  and  Cardinal  Mazarin  succeeded 
to  the  station  from  which  death  alone  had  power  to  remove 
his  predecessor. 

The  civil  wars  in  England  now  broke  out,  and  their  terri- 
ble results  seemed  to  promise  to  the  republic  the  undisturbed 
sovereignty  of  the  seas.  The  Prince  of  Orange  received 
with  great  distinction  the  mother-in-law  of  his  son,  when 
she  came  to  Holland  under  pretext  of  conducting  her 
daughter;  but  her  principal  purpose  was  to  obtain,  by  the 
sale  of  the  crown  jewels  and  the  assistance  of  Frederick 
Henry,  funds  for  the  supply  of  her  unfortunate  husband's 
cause. 

The  prince  and  several  private  individuals  contributed 
largely  in  money;  and  several  experienced  officers  passed 
over  to  serve  in  the  royalist  army  of  England.  The  pro- 
vincial states  of  Holland,  however,  sympathizing  wholly 
with  the  parliament,  remonstrated  with  the  stadtholder; 
and  the  Dutch  colonists  encouraged  the  hostile  efforts  of 


280  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

their  brethren,  the  Puritans  of  Scotland,  by  all  the  absurd 
exhortations  of  fanatic  zeal.  Boswell,  the  English  resident 
in  the  name  of  the  king,  and  Strickland,  the  ambassador 
from  the  parliament,  kept  up  a  constant  succession  of  com- 
plaints and  remonstrances  on  occasion  of  every  incident 
which  seemed  to  balance  the  conduct  of  the  republic  in 
the  great  question  of  English  politics.  Considerable  differ- 
ences existed:  the  province  of  Holland,  and  some  others, 
leaned  toward  the  parliament;  the  Prince  of  Orange  fa- 
vored the  king;  and  the  states-general  endeavored  to  main- 
tain a  neutrality. 

The  struggle  was  still  furiously  maintained  in  Germany. 
Generals  of  the  first  order  of  military  talent  were  contin- 
ually appearing,  and  successively  eclipsing  each  other  by 
their  brilliant  actions.  Gustavus  Adolphus  was  killed  in 
the  midst  of  his  glorious  career,  at  the  battle  of  Lutzen; 
the  duke  of  Weimar  succeeded  to  his  command,  and  proved 
himself  worthy  of  the  place ;  Tilly  and  the  celebrated  Wal- 
lenstein  were  no  longer  on  the  scene.  The  emperor  Ferdinand 
II.  was  dead,  and  his  son  Ferdinand  III.  saw  his  victorious 
enemies  threaten,  at  last,  the  existence  of  the  empire. 
Everything  tended  to  make  peace  necessary  to  some  of 
the  contending  powers,  as  it  was  at  length  desirable  for 
all.  Sweden  and  Denmark  were  engaged  in  a  bloody  and 
wasteful  conflict.  The  United  Provinces  sent  an  embassy, 
in  the  month  of  June,  1644,  to  each  of  those  powers;  and 
by  a  vigorous  demonstration  of  their  resolution  to  assist 
Sweden,  if  Denmark  proved  refractory,  a  peace  was  signed 
the  following  year,  which  terminated  the  disputes  of  the 
rival  nations. 

Negotiations  were  now  opened  at  Munster  between  the 
several  belligerents.  The  republic  was,  however,  the  last  to 
send  its  plenipotentiaries  there;  having  signed  a  new  treaty 
with  France,  by  which  they  mutually  stipulated  to  make  no 
peace  independent  of  each  other.  It  behooved  the  republic, 
however,  to  contribute  as  much  as  possible  toward  the  gen- 
eral object ;  for,  among  other  strong  motives  to  that  line  of 


TO    THE    TREATY    OF    MUN8TEE 

conduct,  the  finances  of  Holland  were  in  a  state  perfectly 
deplorable. 

Every  year  brought  the  necessity  of  a  new  loan ;  and  the 
public  debt  of  the  provinces  now  amounted  to  one  hundred 
and  fifty  million  florins,  bearing  interest  at  six  and  a  quarter 
per  cent.  Considerable  alarm  was  excited  at  the  progress  of 
the  French  army  in  the  Belgian  provinces ;  and  escape  from 
the  tyranny  of  Spain  seemed  only  to  lead  to  the  danger  of 
submission  to  a  nation  too  powerful  and  too  close  at  hand 
not  to  be  dangerous,  either  as  a  foe  or  an  ally.  These  fears 
were  increased  by  the  knowledge  that  Cardinal  Mazarin 
projected  a  marriage  between  Louis  XIV.  and  the  infanta 
of  Spain,  with  the  Belgian  provinces,  or  Spanish  Nether- 
lands as*  they  were  now  called,  for  her  marriage  portion. 
This  project  was  confided  to  the  Prince  of  Orange,  under 
the  seal  of  secrecy,  and  he  was  offered  the  marquisate  of 
Antwerp  as  the  price  of  his  influence  toward  effecting  the 
plan.  The  prince  revealed  the  whole  to  the  states-general. 
Great  fermentation  was  excited;  the  stadtholder  himself 
was  blamed,  and  suspected  of  complicity  with  the  designs 
of  the  cardinal.  Frederick  Henry  was  deeply  hurt  at  this 
want  of  confidence,  and  the  injurious  publications  which 
openly  assailed  his  honor  in  a  point  where  he  felt  himself 
entitled  to  praise  instead  of  suspicion. 

The  French  labored  to  remove  the  impression  which  this 
affair  excited  in  the  republic;  but  the  states-general  felt 
themselves  justified  by  the  intriguing  policy  of  Mazarin  in 
entering  into  a  secret  negotiation  with  the  king  of  Spain, 
who  offered  very  favorable  conditions.  The  negotiations 
were  considerably  advanced  by  the  marked  disposition 
evinced  by  the  Prince  of  Orange  to  hasten  the  establish- 
ment of  peace.  Yet,  at  this  very  period,  and  while  anx- 
iously wishing  this  great  object,  he  could  not  resist  the  de- 
sire for  another  campaign;  one  more  exploit,  to  signalize 
the  epoch  at  which  he  finally  placed  his  sword  in  the 
scabbard. 

Frederick  Henry  was  essentially  a  soldier,  with  all  the 


282  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

spirit  of  his  race;  and  this  evidence  of  the  ruling  pas- 
sion, while  he  touched  the  verge  of  the  grave,  is  one  of  the 
most  striking  points  of  his  character.  He  accordingly  took 
the  field ;  but,  with  a  constitution  broken  by  a  lingering  dis- 
ease, he  was  little  fitted  to  accomplish  any  feat  worthy  of 
his  splendid  reputation.  He  failed  in  an  attempt  on  Venlo, 
and  another  on  Antwerp,  and  retired  to  The  Hague,  where 
for  some  months  he  rapidly  declined.  On  the  14th  of  March, 
1647,  he  expired,  in  his  sixty-third  year;  leaving  behind  him 
a  character  of  unblemished  integrity,  prudence,  toleration, 
and  valor.  He  was  not  of  that  impetuous  stamp  which  leads 
men  to  heroic  deeds,  and  brings  danger  to  the  states  whose 
liberty  is  compromised  by  their  ambition.  He  was  a  strik- 
ing contrast  to  his  brother  Maurice,  and  more  resembled  his 
father  in  many  of  those  calmer  qualities  of  the  mind,  which 
make  men  more  beloved  without  lessening  their  claims  to 
admiration.  Frederick  Henry  had  the  honor  of  completing 
the  glorious  task  which  William  began  and  Maurice  fol- 
lowed up.  He  saw  the  oppression  they  had  combated  now 
humbled  and  overthrown;  and  he  forms  the  third  in  a  se- 
quence of  family  renown,  the  most  surprising  and  the  least 
checkered  afforded  by  the  annals  of  Europe. 

"William  II.  succeeded  his  father  in  his  dignities ;  and  his 
ardent  spirit  longed  to  rival  him  in  war.  He  turned  his  en- 
deavors to  thwart  all  the  efforts  for  peace.  But  the  inter- 
ests of  the  nation  and  the  dying  wishes  of  Frederick  Henry 
were  of  too  powerful  influence  with  the  states,  to  be  over- 
come by  the  martial  yearnings  of  an  inexperienced  youth. 
The  negotiations  were  pressed  forward;  and,  despite  the 
complaints,  the  murmurs,  and  the  intrigues  of  France,  the 
treaty  of  Munster  was  finally  signed  by  the  respective  ambas- 
sadors of  the  United  Provinces  and  Spain,  on  the  30th  of 
January,  1648.  This  celebrated  treaty  contains  seventy-nine 
articles.  Three  points  were  of  main  and  vital  importance 
to  the  republic :  the  first  acknowledges  an  ample  and  entire 
recognition  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  states-general,  and  a 
renunciation  forever  of  all  claims  on  the  part  of  Spain ;  the 


TO    THE    TREATY    OF    MUNSTEB  283 

second  confirms  the  rights  of  trade  and  navigation  in  the 
East  and  West  Indies,  with  the  possession  of  the  various 
countries  and  stations  then  actually  occupied  by  the  con- 
tracting powers;  the  third  guarantees  a  like  possession  of 
all  the  provinces  and  towns  of  the  Netherlands,  as  they  then 
stood  in  their  respective  occupation — a  clause  highly  favor- 
able to  the  republic,  which  had  conquered  several  consider- 
able places  in  Brabant  and  Flanders.  The  ratifications  of 
the  treaty  were  exchanged  at  Munster  with  great  solemnity 
on  the  15th  of  May  following  the  signature;  the  peace  was 
published  in  that  town  and  in  Osnaburg  on  the  19th,  and  in 
all  the  different  states  of  the  king  of  Spain  and  the  United 
Provinces  as  soon  as  the  joyous  intelligence  could  reach 
such  various  and  widely  separated  destinations.  Thus  after 
eighty  years  of  unparalleled  warfare,  only  interrupted  by 
the  truce  of  1609,  during  which  hostilities  had  not  ceased 
in  the  Indies,  the  new  republic  rose  from  the  horrors  of  civil 
war  and  foreign  tyranny  to  its  uncontested  rank  as  a  free 
and  independent  state  among  the  most  powerful  nations  of 
Europe.  No  country  had  ever  done  more  for  glory;  and 
the  result  of  its  efforts  was  the  irrevocable  guarantee  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty,  the  great  aim  and  end  of  civili- 
zation. 

The  king  of  France  alone  had  reason  to  complain  of  this 
treaty:  his  resentment  was  strongly  pronounced.  But  the 
United  Provinces  flung  back  the  reproaches  of  his  ambas- 
sador on  Cardinal  Mazarin ;  and  the  anger  of  the  monarch 
was  smothered  by  the  policy  of  the  minister. 

The  internal  tranquillity  of  the  republic  was  secured  from 
all  future  alarm  by  the  conclusion  of  the  general  peace  of 
Westphalia,  definitively  signed  on  the  24th  of  October,  1648. 
This  treaty  was  long  considered  not  only  as  the  fundamental 
law  of  the  empire,  but  as  the  basis  of  the  political  system  of 
Europe.  As  numbers  of  conflicting  interests  were  recon- 
ciled, Germanic  liberty  secured,  and  a  just  equilibrium  es- 
tablished between  the  Catholics  and  Protestants,  France  and 
Sweden  obtained  great  advantages ;  and  the  various  princes 


884  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

of  the  empire  saw  their  possessions  regulated  and  secured, 
at  the  same  time  that  the  powers  of  the  emperor  were 
strictly  defined. 

This  great  epoch  in  European  history  naturally  marks 
the  conclusion  of  another  in  that  of  the  Netherlands;  and 
this  period  of  general  repose  allows  a  brief  consideration  of 
the  progress  of  arts,  sciences,  and  manners,  during  the  half 
century  just  now  completed. 

The  archdukes  Albert  and  Isabella,  during  the  whole 
course  of  their  sovereignty,  labored  to  remedy  the  abuses 
which  had  crowded  the  administration  of  justice.  The  Per- 
petual Edict,  in  1611,  regulated  the  form  of  judicial  proceed- 
ings; and  several  provinces  received  new  charters,  by  which 
the  privileges  of  the  people  were  placed  on  a  footing  in  har- 
mony with  their  wants.  Anarchy,  in  short,  gave  place  to 
regular  government;  and  the  archdukes,  in  swearing  to 
maintain  the  celebrated  pact  known  by  the  name  of  the 
Joyeuse  Entree,  did  all  in  their  power  to  satisfy  their  sub- 
jects, while  securing  their  own  authority.  The  piety  of  the 
archdukes  gave  an  example  to  all  classes.  This,  although 
degenerating  in  the  vulgar  to  superstition  and  bigotry, 
formed  a  severe  check,  which  allowed  their  rulers  to  re- 
strain popular  excesses,  and  enabled  them  in  the  internal 
quiet  of  their  despotism  to  soften  the  people  by  the  encour- 
agement of  the  sciences  and  arts.  Medicine,  astronomy, 
and  mathematics,  made  prodigious  progress  during  this 
epoch.  Several  eminent  men  flourished  in  the  Nether- 
lands. But  the  glory  of  others,  in  countries  presenting  a 
wider  theatre  for  their  renown,  in  many  instances  eclipsed 
them;  and  the  inventors  of  new  methods  and  systems  in 
anatomy,  optics  and  music  were  almost  forgotten  in  the 
splendid  improvements  of  their  followers. 

In  literature,  Hugo  de  Groot,  or  Grotius  (his  Latinized 
name,  by  which  he  is  better  known),  was  the  most  brilliant 
star  of  his  country  or  his  age,  as  Erasmus  was  of  that  which 
preceded.  He  was  at  once  eminent  as  jurist,  poet,  theolo- 
gian, and  historian.  His  erudition  was  immense;  and  h* 


TO    THE    TREATY    OF    MUNSTER  285 

brought  it  to  bear  in  his  political  capacity,  as  ambassador 
from  Sweden  to  the  court  of  France,  when  the  violence  of 
party  and  the  injustice  of  power  condemned  him  to  perpet- 
ual imprisonment  in  his  native  land.     The  religious  disputa- 
tions in  Holland  had  given  a  great  impulse  to  talent.     They 
were  not  mere  theological  arguments;    but  with  the  wild 
and  furious  abstractions  of  bigotry  were  often  blended  vari- 
ous illustrations  from  history,  art,  and  science,  and  a  tone 
of  keen  and  delicate  satire,  which  at  once  refined  and  made 
them  readable.     It  is  remarkable  that  almost  the  whole  of 
the  Latin  writings  of  this  period  abound  in  good  taste,  while 
those  written  in  the  vulgar  tongue  are  chiefly  coarse  and 
trivial.     Vondel  and  Hooft,   the  great  poets  of  the  time, 
wrote  with  genius  and  energy,  but  were  deficient  in  judg- 
ment founded  on  good  taste.     The  latter  of  these  writers 
was  also  distinguished   for   his   prose  works;    in  honor  of 
which    Louis   XIII.    dignified  him   with  letters  patent  of 
nobility,  and  decorated  him  with  the  order  of  St.  Michael. 
But  while  Holland  was  more  particularly  distinguished 
by  the  progress  of  the  mechanical  arts,   to  which  Prince 
Maurice  afforded  unbounded  patronage,  the  Belgian  prov- 
inces gave  birth  to  that  galaxy  of  genius  in  the  art  of  paint- 
ing, which  no  equal  period  of  any  other  country  has  ever 
rivalled.     A  volume  like  this  would  scarcely  suffice  to  do 
justice  to  the  merits  of  the  eminent  artists  who  now  flour- 
ished in  Belgium ;  at  once  founding,  perfecting,  and  immor- 
talizing the  Flemish  school  of  painting.     Rubens,  Vandyck, 
Teniers,  Grayer,  Jordaens,  Sneyders,  and  a  host  of  other 
great  names,  crowd  on  us  with  claims  for  notice  that  almost 
make  the  mention  of  any  an  injustice  to  the  rest.     But  Eu- 
cope  is  familiar  with  their  fame ;  and  the  widespread  taste 
for  their   delicious    art  makes  them  independent  of  other 
record  than  the  combination  of  their  own  exquisite  touch, 
undying  tints,  and  unequalled  knowledge  of  nature.     En- 
graving, carried  at  the  same  time  to  great  perfection,  has 
multiplied  some  of  the  merits  of  the  celebrated  painters, 
while  stamping  the  reputation  of  its  own  professors.     Sculp- 


286  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

ture,  also,  had  its  votaries  of  considerable  note.  Among 
these,  Des  Jardins  and  Quesnoy  held  the  foremost  station. 
Architecture  also  produced  some  remarkable  names. 

The  arts  were,  in  short,  never  held  in  higher  honor  than 
at  this  brilliant  epoch.  Otto  Venire,  the  master  of  Rubens, 
held  most  important  employments.  Rubens  himself,  ap- 
pointed secretary  to  the  privy  council  of  the  archdukes, 
was  subsequently  sent  to  England,  where  he  negotiated  the 
peace  between  that  country  and  Spain.  The  unfortunate 
King  Charles  so  highly  esteemed  his  merit  that  he  knighted 
him  in  full  parliament,  and  presented  him  with  the  diamond 
ring  he  wore  on  his  own  finger,  and  a  chain  enriched  with 
brilliants.  David  Teniers,  the  great  pupil  of  this  distin- 
guished master,  met  his  due  share  of  honor.  He  has  left 
several  portraits  of  himself ;  one  of  which  hands  him  down 
to  posterity  in  the  costume,  and  with  the  decorations  of  the 
belt  and  key,  which  he  wore  in  his  capacity  of  chamberlain 
to  the  archduke  Leopold,  governor-general  of  the  Spanish 
Netherlands. 

The  intestine  disturbances  of  Holland  during  the  twelve 
years'  truce,  and  the  enterprises  against  Friesland  and  the 
duchy  of  Cleves,  had  prevented  that  wise  economy  which 
was  expected  from  the  republic.  The  annual  ordinary  cost 
of  the  military  establishment  at  that  period  amounted  to 
thirteen  million  florins.  To  meet  the  enormous  expenses 
of  the  state,  taxes  were  raised  on  every  material.  They 
produced  about  thirty  million  florins  a  year,  independent 
of  five  million  each  for  the  East  and  "West  India  companies. 
The  population  in  1620,  in  Holland,  was  about  six  hundred 
thousand,  and  the  other  provinces  contained  about  the  same 
number. 

It  is  singular  to  observe  the  fertile  erections  of  monopoly 
in  a  state  founded  on  principles  of  commercial  freedom. 
The  East  and  "West  India  companies,  the  Greenland  com- 
pany, and  others,  were  successively  formed.  By  the  effect 
of  their  enterprise,  industry  and  wealth,  conquests  were 
made  and  colonies  founded  with  surprising  rapidity.  The 


TO    THE    TREATY    OF    MUNSTER  287 

town  of  Amsterdam,  now  New  York,  was  founded  in  1624; 
and  the  East  saw  Batavia  rise  up  from  the  ruins  of  Jacatra, 
which  was  sacked  and  razed  by  the  Dutch  adventurers. 

The  Dutch  and  English  East  India  companies,  repressing 
their  mutual  jealousy,  formed  a  species  of  partnership  in 
1619  for  the  reciprocal  enjoyment  of  the  rights  of  commerce. 
But  four  years  later  than  this  date  an  event  took  place  so 
fatal  to  national  confidence  that  its  impressions  are  scarcely 
yet  effaced — this  was  the  torturing  and  execution  of  several 
Englishmen  in  the  island  of  Amboyna,  on  pretence  of  an 
unproved  plot,  of  which  every  probability  leads  to  the  belief 
that  they  were  wholly  innocent.  This  circumstance  was 
the  strongest  stimulant  to  the  hatred  so  evident  in  the 
bloody  wars  which  not  long  afterward  took  place  between 
the  two  nations;  and  the  lapse  of  two  centuries  has  not 
entirely  effaced  its  effects.  Much  has  been  at  various  peri- 
ods written  for  and  against  the  establishment  of  monopo- 
lizing companies,  by  which  individual  wealth  and  skill  are 
excluded  from  their  chances  of  reward.  With  reference  to 
those  of  Holland  at  this  period  of  its  history,  it  is  sufficient 
to  remark  that  the  great  results  of  their  formation  could 
never  have  been  brought  about  by  isolated  enterprises;  and 
the  justice  or  wisdom  of  their  continuance  are  questions 
wholly  dependent  on  the  fluctuations  in  trade,  and  the 
effects  produced  on  that  of  any  given  country  by  the 
progress  and  the  rivalry  of  others. 

With  respect  to  the  state  of  manners  hi  the  republic,  it 
is  clear  that  the  jealousies  and  emulation  of  commerce  were 
not  likely  to  lessen  the  vice  of  avarice  with  which  the  na- 
tives have  been  reproached.  The  following  is  a  strong 
expression  of  one,  who  cannot,  however,  be  considered  an 
unprejudiced  observer,  on  occasion  of  some  disputed  points 
between  the  Dutch  and  English  maritime  tribunals — "The 
decisions  of  our  courts  cause  much  ill-will  among  these 
people,  whose  hearts'  blood  is  their  purse."  l  While  drunk- 

1  Carleton. 


288  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

enness  was  a  vice  considered  scarcely  scandalous,  the  in- 
trigues of  gallantry  were  concealed  with  the  most  scrupulous 
mystery — giving  evidence  of  at  least  good  taste,  if  not  of 
pure  morality.  Court  etiquette  began  to  be  of  infinite  im- 
portance. The  wife  of  Count  Ernest  Casimir  of  Nassau  was 
so  intent  on  the  preservation  of  her  right  of  precedence  thsj,t 
on  occasion  of  Lady  Carleton,  the  British  ambassadress,  pre- 
suming to  dispute  the  pas,  she  forgot  true  dignity  so  far  as 
to  strike  her.  "We  may  imagine  the  vehement  resentment 
of  such  a  man  as  Carleton  for  such  an  outrage.  The  lower 
orders  of  the  people  had  the  rude  and  brutal  manners  com- 
mon to  half -civilized  nations  which  fight  their  way  to  free- 
dom. The  unfortunate  king  of  Bohemia,  when  a  refugee 
in  Holland,  was  one  day  hunting;  and,  in  the  heat  of  the 
chase,  be  followed  his  dogs,  which  had  pursued  a  hare,  into 
a  newly  sown  corn-field:  he  was  quickly  interrupted  by  a 
couple  of  peasants  armed  with  pitchforks.  He  supposed  his 
rank  and  person  to  be  unknown  to  them ;  but  he  was  soon 
undeceived,  and  saluted  with  unceremonious  reproaches. 
"King  of  Bohemia!  King  of  Bohemia!"  shouted  one  of  the 
boors,  "why  do  you  trample  on  my  wheat  which  I  have  so 
lately  had  the  trouble  of  sowing?"  The  king  made  many 
apologies,  and  retired,  throwing  the  whole  blame  on  his 
dogs.  But  in  the  life  of  Marshal  Turenne  we  find  a  more 
marked  trait  of  manners  than  this,  which  might  be  paral- 
leled in  England  at  this  day.  This  great  general  served  his 
apprenticeship  in  the  art  of  war  under  his  uncles,  the  princes 
Maurice  and  Frederick  Henry.  He  appeared  one  day  on 
the  public  walk  at  The  Hague,  dressed  in  his  usual  plain 
and  modest  style.  Some  young  French  lords,  covered  with 
gold,  embroidery,  and  ribbons,  met  and  accosted  him:  a 
mob  gathered  round ;  and  while  treating  Turenne,  although 
unknown  to  them,  with  all  possible  respect,  they  forced  the 
others  to  retire,  assailed  with  mockery  and  the  coarsest 
abuse. 

But  one  characteristic,  more  noble  and  worthy  than  any 
of  those  thus  briefly  cited,  was  the  full  enjoyment  of  the 


TO    THE    TREATY    OF    MUNSTER  289 

liberty  of  the  press  in  the  United  Provinces.  The  thirst  of 
gain,  the  fury  of  faction,  the  federal  independence  of  the 
minor  towns,  the  absolute  power  of  Prince  Maurice,  all  the 
combinations  which  might  carry  weight  against  this  grand 
principle,  were  totally  ineffectual  to  prevail  over  it.  And 
the  republic  was,  on  this  point,  proudly  pre-eminent  among 
surrounding  nations. 


Holland. — 13 


CHAPTER  XIX 

FROM  THE  PEACE  OF    MUNSTER  TO  THE  PEACE  OF 
NIMEGUEN 

AD.  1648—1678 

THE  completion  of  the  peace  of  Munster  opens  a  new 
scene  in  the  history  of  the   republic.     Its  political 
system  experienced   considerable   changes.     Its   an- 
cient enemies  became  its  most  ardent  friends,  and  its  old 
allies  loosened  the  bonds  of   long-continued   amity.      The 
other  states  of  Europe,  displeased  at  its  imperious  conduct, 
or  jealous  of  its  success,  began  to  wish  its  humiliation ;  but 
it  was  little  thought  that  the   consummation   was  to  be 
effected  at  the  hands  of  England. 

While  Holland  prepared  to  profit  by  the  peace  so  bril- 
liantly gained,  England,  torn  by  civil  war,  was  hurried  on 
in  crime  and  misery  to  the  final  act  which  has  left  an  in- 
delible stain  on  her  annals.  Cromwell  and  the  parliament 
had  completely  subjugated  the  kingdom.  The  unfortunate 
king,  delivered  up  by  the  Scotch,  was  brought  to  a  mock 
trial,  and  condemned  to  an  ignominious  death.  Great  as 
were  his  faults,  they  are  almost  lost  sight  of  in  the  atrocity 
of  his  opponents ;  so  surely  does  disproportioned  punishment 
for  political  offences  produce  a  reaction  in  the  minds  that 
would  approve  a  commensurate  penalty.  The  United  Prov- 
inces had  preserved  a  strict  neutrality  while  the  contest  was 
undecided.  The  Prince  of  Orange  warmly  strove  to  obtain 
a  declaration  in  favor  of  his  father-in-law,  Charles  I.  The 
Prince  of  "Wales  and  the  Duke  of  York,  his  sons,  who  had 
taken  refuge  at  The  Hague,  earnestly  joined  in  the  en- 
treaty ;  but  all  that  could  be  obtained  from  the  states-gen- 
eral was  their  consent  to  an  embassy  to  interpose  with  the 
(290) 


TO   THE   PEACE    OF   NIMEGUEN  291 

ferocious  bigots  who  doomed  the  hapless  monarch  to  the 
block.  Pauw  and  Joachimi,  the  one  sixty-four  years  of 
age,  the  other  eighty-eight,  the  most  able  men  of  the  re- 
public, undertook  the  task  of  mediation.  They  were 
scarcely  listened  to  by  the  parliament,  and  the  bloody 
sacrifice  took  place. 

The  details  of  this  event,  and  its  immediate  conse- 
quences, belong  to  English  history;  and  we  must  hurry 
over  the  brief,  turbid,  and  inglorious  stadtholderate  of 
William  II. ,  to  arrive  at  the  more  interesting  contest  be- 
tween the  republic  which  had  honorably  conquered  its  free- 
dom, and  that  of  the  rival  commonwealth,  which  had  gained 
its  power  by  hypocrisy,  violence,  and  guilt. 

William  II.  was  now  in  his  twenty-fourth  year.  He 
had  early  evinced  that  heroic  disposition  which  was  com- 
mon to  his  race.  He  panted  for  military  glory.  All  his 
pleasures  were  those  usual  to  ardent  and  high-spirited  men, 
although  his  delicate  constitution  seemed  to  forbid  the  indul- 
gence of  hunting,  tennis,  and  the  other  violent  exercises  in 
which  he  delighted.  He  was  highly  accomplished;  spoke 
five  different  languages  with  elegance  and  fluency,  and  had 
made  considerable  progress  in  mathematics  and  other  ab- 
stract sciences.  His  ambition  knew  no  bounds.  Had  he 
reigned  over  a  monarchy  as  absolute  king,  he  would  most 
probably  have  gone  down  to  posterity  a  conqueror  and  a 
hero.  But,  unfitted  to  direct  a  republic  as  its  first  citizen, 
he  has  left  but  the  name  of  a  rash  and  unconstitutional 
magistrate.  From  the  moment  of  his  accession  to  power, 
he  was  made  sensible  of  the  jealousy  and  suspicion  with 
which  his  office  and  his  character  were  observed  by  the 
provincial  states  of  Holland.  Many  instances  of  this  dispo- 
sition were  accumulated  to  his  great  disgust;  and  he  was 
not  long  in  evincing  his  determination  to  brave  all  the  odium 
and  reproach  of  despotic  designs,  and  to  risk  everything  for 
the  establishment  of  absolute  power.  The  province  of  Hol- 
land, arrogating  to  itself  the  greatest  share  in  the  reforms 
of  the  army,  and  the  financial  arrangements  called  for  by 


292  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

the  transition  from  war  to  peace,  was  soon  in  fierce  opposi- 
tion with  the  states-general,  which  supported  the  prince  in 
his  early  views.  Cornelius  Bikker,  one  of  the  burgomasters 
of  Amsterdam,  was  the  leading  person  in  the  states  of  Hol- 
land ;  and  a  circumstance  soon  occurred  which  put  him  and 
the  stadtholder  in  collision,  and  quickly  decided  the  great 
question  at  issue. 

The  admiral  Cornellizon  de  Witt  arrived  from  Brazil 
with  the  remains  of  his  fleet,  and  without  the  consent  of 
the  council  of  regency  there  established  by  the  states-gen- 
eral. He  was  instantly  arrested  by  order  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  in  his  capacity  of  high-admiral.  The  admiralty 
of  Amsterdam  was  at  the  same  time  ordered  by  the  states- 
general  to  imprison  six  of  the  captains  of  this  fleet.  The 
states  of  Holland  maintained  that  this  was  a  violation  of 
their  provincial  rights,  and  an  illegal  assumption  of  power 
on  the  part  of  the  states-general;  and  the  magistrates  of 
Amsterdam  forced  the  prison  doors,  and  set  the  captains 
at  liberty.  William,  backed  by  the  authority  of  the  states- 
general,  now  put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  deputation  from 
that  body,  and  made  a  rapid  tour  of  visitation  to  the  differ- 
ent chief  towns  of  the  republic,  to  sound  the  depths  of  public 
opinion  on  the  matters  in  dispute.  The  deputation  met 
with  varied  success ;  but  the  result  proved  to  the  irritated 
prince  that  no  measures  of  compromise  were  to  be  expected, 
and  that  force  alone  was  to  arbitrate  the  question.  The 
army  was  to  a  man  devoted  to  him.  The  states-general 
gave  him  their  entire,  and  somewhat  servile,  support.  He, 
therefore,  on  his  own  authority,  arrested  the  six  deputies 
of  Holland,  in  the  same  way  that  his  uncle  Maurice  had 
seized  on  Barneveldt,  Grotius,  and  the  others;  and  they 
were  immediately  conveyed  to  the  castle  of  Louvestein. 

In  adopting  this  bold  and  unauthorized  measure,  he 
decided  on  an  immediate  attempt  to  gain  possession  of  the 
city  of  Amsterdam,  the  central  point  of  opposition  to  his 
violent  designs.  William  Frederick,  count  of  Nassau, 
stadtholder  of  Friesland,  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  de- 


TO  THE  PEACE  OF  NIMEGUEN         293 

tachment  of  troops,  marched  secretly  and  by  night  to  sur- 
prise the  town;  but  the  darkness  and  a  violent  thunder- 
storm having  caused  the  greater  number  to  lose  their  way, 
the  count  found  himself  at  dawn  at  the  city  gates  with  a 
very  insufficient  force ;  and  had  the  further  mortification  to 
see  the  walls  well  manned,  the  cannon  pointed,  the  draw- 
bridges raised,  and  everything  in  a  state  of  defence.  The 
courier  from  Hamburg,  who  had  passed  through  the  scat- 
tered bands  of  soldiers  during  the  night,  had  given  the 
alarm.  The  first  notion  was  that  a  roving  band  of  Swe- 
dish or  Lorraine  troops,  attracted  by  the  opulence  of  Am- 
sterdam, had  resolved  on  an  attempt  to  seize  and  pillage 
it.  The  magistrates  could  scarcely  credit  the  evidence  of 
day,  which  showed  them  the  count  of  Nassau  and  his  force 
on  their  hostile  mission.  A  short  conference  with  the  depu- 
ties from  the  citizens  convinced  him  that  a  speedy  retreat 
was  the  only  measure  of  safety  for  himself  and  his  force, 
as  the  sluices  of  the  dikes  were  in  part  opened,  and  a  threat 
of  submerging  the  intended  assailants  only  required  a  mo- 
ment more  to  be  enforced. 

Nothing  could  exceed  the  disappointment  and  irritation 
of  the  Prince  of  Orange  consequent  on  this  transaction.  He 
at  first  threatened,  then  negotiated,  and  finally  patched  up 
the  matter  in  a  manner  the  least  mortifying  to  his  wounded 
pride.  Bikker  nobly  offered  himself  for  a  peace-offering, 
and  voluntarily  resigned  his  employments  in  the  city  he 
had  saved;  and  De  Witt  and  his  officers  were  released. 
William  was  in  some  measure  consoled  for  his  disgrace  by 
the  condolence  of  the  army,  the  thanks  of  the  province  of 
Zealand,  and  a  new  treaty  with  France,  strengthened  by 
promises  of  future  support  from  Cardinal  Mazarin;  but, 
before  he  could  profit  by  these  encouraging  symptoms, 
domestic  and  foreign,  a  premature  death  cut  short  all  his 
projects  of  ambition.  Over-violent  exercise  in  a  shooting 
party  in  Guelders  brought  on  a  fever,  which  soon  termi- 
nated in  an  attack  of  smallpox.  On  the  first  appearance 
of  his  illness,  he  was  removed  to  The  Hague;  and  he  died 


294  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

there  on  the  6th  of  November,  1650,  aged  twenty-four  years 
and  six  months. 

The  death  of  this  prince  left  the  state  without  a  stadt- 
holder,  and  the  army  without  a  chief.  The  whole  of  Eu- 
rope shared  more  or  less  in  the  joy  or  the  regret  it  caused. 
The  republican  party,  both  in  Holland  and  in  England,  re- 
joiced in  a  circumstance  which  threw  back  the  sovereign 
power  into  the  hands  of  the  nation;  the  partisans  of  the 
House  of  Orange  deeply  lamented  the  event.  But  the 
birth  of  a  son,  of  which  the  widowed  princess  of  Orange 
was  delivered  within  a  week  of  her  husband's  death,  re- 
vived the  hopes  of  those  who  mourned  his  loss,  and  offered 
her  the  only  consolation  which  could  assuage  her  grief. 
This  child  was,  however,  the  innocent  cause  of  a  breach 
between  his  mother  and  grandmother,  the  dowager-princess, 
who  had  never  been  cordially  attached  to  each  other.  Each 
claimed  the  guardianship  of  the  young  prince ;  and  the  dis- 
pute was  at  length  decided  by  the  states,  who  adjudged 
the  important  office  to  the  elector  of  Brandenburg  and  the 
two  princesses  jointly.  The  states  of  Holland  soon  exer- 
cised their  influence  on  the  other  provinces.  Many  of  the 
prerogatives  of  the  stadtholder  were  now  assumed  by  the 
people;  and,  with  the  exception  of  Zealand,  which  made 
an  ineffectual  attempt  to  name  the  infant  prince  to  the  dig- 
nity of  his  ancestors  under  the  title  of  William  III.,  a  per- 
fect unanimity  seemed  to  have  reconciled  all  opposing  inter- 
ests. The  various  towns  secured  the  privileges  of  appointing 
their  own  magistrates,  and  the  direction  of  the  army  and 
navy  devolved  to  the  states-general. 

The  time  was  now  arrived  when  the  wisdom,  the  cour- 
age, and  the  resources  of  the  republic  were  to  be  put  once 
more  to  the  test,  in  a  contest  hitherto  without  example,  and 
never  since  equalled  in  its  nature.  The  naval  wars  between 
Holland  and  England  had  their  real  source  in  the  inveterate 
jealousies  and  unbounded  ambition  of  both  countries,  recip- 
rocally convinced  that  a  joint  supremacy  at  sea  was  incom- 
patible with  their  interests  and  their  honor,  and  each  resolved 


TO   THE   PEACE   OF   NIMEGUEN  295 

to  risk  everything  for  their  mutual  pretensions — to  perish 
rather  than  yield.  The  United  Provinces  were  assuredly 
not  the  aggressors  in  this  quarrel.  They  had  made  sure  of 
their  capability  to  meet  it,  by  the  settlement  of  all  questions 
of  internal  government,  and  the  solid  peace  which  secured 
them  against  any  attack  on  the  part  of  their  old  and  invet- 
erate enemy;  but  they  did  not  seek  a  rupture.  They  at 
first  endeavored  to  ward  off  the  threatened  danger  by  every 
effort  of  conciliation;  and  they  met,  with  temperate  man- 
agement, even  the  advances  made  by  Cromwell,  at  the  in- 
stigation of  St.  John,  the  chief  justice,  for  a  proposed,  yet 
impracticable  coalition  between  the  two  republics,  which 
was  to  make  them  one  and  indivisible.  An  embassy  to  The 
Hague,  with  St.  John  and  Strickland  at  its  head,  was  re- 
ceived with  all  public  honors ;  but  the  partisans  of  the  fami- 
lies of  Orange  and  Stuart,  and  the  populace  generally, 
openly  insulted  the  ambassadors.  About  the  same  time 
Dorislas,  a  Dutchman  naturalized  in  England,  and  sent 
on  a  mission  from  the  parliament,  was  murdered  at  The 
Hague  by  some  Scotch  officers,  friends  of  the  banished 
king;  the  massacre  of  Amboyna,  thirty  years  before,  was 
made  a  cause  of  revived  complaint;  and  altogether  a  sum 
of  injuries  was  easily  made  up  to  turn  the  proposed  fan- 
tastic coalition  into  a  fierce  and  bloody  war. 

The  parliament  of  England  soon  found  a  pretext  in  an 
outrageous  measure,  under  pretence  of  providing  for  the 
interests  of  commerce.  They  passed  the  celebrated  act  of 
navigation,  which  prohibited  all  nations  from  importing 
into  England  in  their  ships  any  commodity  which  was  not 
the  growth  and  manufacture  of  their  own  country.  This 
law,  though  worded  generally,  was  aimed  directly  at  the 
Dutch,  who  were  the  general  factors  and  carriers  of  Eu- 
rope. Ships  were  seized,  reprisals  made,  the  mockery  of 
negotiation  carried  on,  fleets  equipped,  and  at  length  the 
war  broke  out. 

In  the  month  of  May,  1652,  the  Dutch  admiral,  Tromp, 
commanding  forty-two  ships  of  war,  met  with  the  English 


296  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

fleet  under  Blake  in  the  Straits  of  Dover ;  the  latter,  though 
much  inferior  in  number,  gave  a  signal  to  the  Dutch  ad- 
miral to  strike,  the  usual  salutation  of  honor  accorded  to 
the  English  during  the  monarchy.  Totally  different  ver- 
sions have  been  given  by  the  two  admirals  of  what  fol- 
lowed. Blake  insisted  that  Tromp,  instead  of  complying, 
fired  a  broadside  at  his  vessel ;  Tromp  stated  that  a  second 
and  a  third  bullet  were  sent  promptly  from  the  British  ship 
while  he  was  preparing  to  obey  the  admiral's  claim.  The 
discharge  of  the  first  broadside  is  also  a  matter  of  contra- 
diction, and  of  course  of  doubt.  But  it  is  of  small  conse- 
quence; for  whether  hostilities  had  been  hurried  on  or  de- 
layed, they  were  ultimately  inevitable.  A  bloody  battle 
began :  it  lasted  five  hours.  The  inferiority  in  number  on 
the  side  of  the  English  was  balanced  by  the  larger  size  of 
their  ships.  One  Dutch  vessel  was  sunk;  another  taken; 
and  night  parted  the  combatants. 

The  states-general  heard  the  news  with  consternation : 
they  despatched  the  grand  pensionary  Pauw  on  a  special 
embassy  to  London.  The  imperious  parliament  would  hear 
of  neither  reason  nor  remonstrance.  Right  or  wrong,  they 
Were  resolved  on  war.  Blake  was  soon  at  sea  again  with  a 
numerous  fleet;  Tromp  followed  with  a  hundred  ships;  but 
a  violent  tempest  separated  these  furious  enemies,  and  re- 
tarded for  a  while  the  rencounter  they  mutually  longed  for. 
On  the  16th  of  August  a  battle  took  place  between  Sir 
George  Ayscue  and  the  renowned  De  Ruyter,  near  Ply- 
mouth, each  with  about  forty  ships;  but  with  no  decisive 
consequences.  On  the  28th  of  October,  Blake,  aided  by 
Bourn  and  Pen,  met  a  Dutch  squadron  of  nearly  equal 
force  off  the  coast  of  Kent,  under  De  Ruyter  and  De  "Witt. 
The  fight  which  followed  was  also  severe,  but  not  decisive, 
though  the  Dutch  had  the  worst  of  the  day.  In  the  Medi- 
terranean, the  Dutch  admiral  Van  Galen  defeated  the  En- 
glish captain  Baddely,  but  bought  the  victory  with  his  life. 
And,  on  the  29th  of  November,  another  bloody  conflict  took 
place  between  Blake  and  Tromp,  seconded  by  De  Ruyter, 


TO   THE   PEACE   OF   NIMEGTJEN  297 

near  the  Goodwin  Sands.  In  this  determined  action  Blake 
was  wounded  and  defeated;  five  English  ships  taken? 
burned,  or  sunk;  and  night  saved  the  fleet  from  destruc- 
tion. After  this  victory  Tromp  placed  a  broom  at  his  mast- 
head, as  if  to  intimate  that  he  would  sweep  the  Channel  free 
of  all  English  ships. 

Great  preparations  were  made  in  England  to  recover 
this  disgrace;  eighty  sail  put  to  sea  under  Blake,  Dean, 
and  Monk,  so  celebrated  subsequently  as  the  restorer  of 
the  monarchy.  Tromp  and  De  Ruyter,  with  seventy-six 
vessels,  were  descried  on  the  18th  of  February,  escorting 
three  hundred  merchantmen  up  Channel.  Three  days  of 
desperate  fighting  ended  in  the  defeat  of  the  Dutch,  who 
lost  ten  ships  of  war  and  twenty-four  merchant  vessels. 
Several  of  the  English  ships  were  disabled,  one  sunk ;  and 
the  carnage  on  both  sides  was  nearly  equal.  Tromp  ac- 
quired prodigious  honor  by  this  battle;  having  succeeded, 
though  defeated,  in  saving,  as  has  been  seen,  almost  the 
whole  of  his  immense  convoy.  On  the  12th  of  June  and 
the  day  following  two  other  actions  were  fought:  in  the 
first  of  which  the  English  admiral  Dean  was  killed;  in  the 
second,  Monk,  Pen,  and  Lawson  amply  revenged  his  death 
by  forcing  the  Dutch  to  regain  their  harbors  with  great 
loss. 

The  21st  of  July  was  the  last  of  these  bloody  and  obsti- 
nate conflicts  for  superiority.  Tromp  issued  out  once  more, 
determined  to  conquer  or  die.  He  met  the  enemy  off  Scheve- 
ling,  commanded  by  Monk.  Both  fleets  rushed  to  the  com- 
bat. The  heroic  Dutchman,  animating  his  sailors  with  his 
sword  drawn,  was  shot  through  the  heart  with  a  musket- 
ball.  This  event,  and  this  alone,  won  the  battle,  which 
was  the  most  decisive  of  the  whole  war.  The  enemy  cap- 
tured or  sunk  nearly  thirty  ships.  The  body  of  Tromp  was 
carried  with  great  solemnity  to  the  church  of  Delft,  where 
a  magnificent  mausoleum  was  erected  over  the  remains  of 
this  eminently  brave  and  distinguished  man. 

This  memorable  defeat,  and  the  death  of  this  great  naval 


298  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

hero,  added  to  the  ID  jury  done  to  their  trade,  induced  the 
states-general  to  seek  terms  from  their  too  powerful  enemy. 
The  want  of  peace  was  felt  throughout  the  whole  country. 
Cromwell  was  not  averse  to  grant  it;  but  he  insisted  on  con- 
ditions every  way  disadvantageous  and  humiliating.  He 
had  revived  his  chimerical  scheme  of  a  total  conjunction  of 
government,  privileges,  and  interests  between  the  two  re- 
publics. This  was  firmly  rejected  by  John  de  Witt,  now 
grand  pensionary  of  Holland,  and  by  the  States  under  his 
influence.  But  the  Dutch  consented  to  a  defensive  league ; 
to  punish  the  survivors  of  those  concerned  in  the  massacre 
of  Amboyna;  to  pay  nine  thousand  pounds  of  indemnity 
for  vessels  seized  in  the  Sound,  five  thousand  pounds  for 
the  affair  of  Amboyna,  and  eighty-five  thousand  pounds  to 
the  English  East  India  Company,  to  cede  to  them  the  island 
of  Polerone  in  the  East ;  to  yield  the  honor  of  the  national 
flag  to  the  English;  and,  finally,  that  neither  the  young 
Prince  of  Orange  nor  any  of  his  family  should  ever  be  in- 
vested with  the  dignity  of  stadtholder.  These  two  latter 
conditions  were  certainly  degrading  to  Holland;  and  the 
conditions  of  the  treaty  prove  that  an  absurd  point  of  honor 
was  the  only  real  cause  for  the  short  but  bloody  and  ruin- 
ous war  which  plunged  the  Provinces  into  overwhelming 
difficulties. 

For  several  years  after  the  conclusion  of  this  inglorious 
peace,  universal  discontent  and  dissension  spread  through- 
out the  republic.  The  supporters  of  the  House  of  Orange, 
and  every  impartial  friend  of  the  national  honor,  were  in- 
dignant at  the  act  of  exclusion.  Murmurs  and  revolts  broke 
out  in  several  towns ;  and  all  was  once  more  tumult,  agita- 
tion, and  doubt.  No  event  of  considerable  importance  marks 
particularly  this  epoch  of  domestic  trouble.  A  new  war  was 
at  last  pronounced  inevitable,  and  was  the  means  of  appeas- 
ing the  distractions  of  the  people,  and  reconciling  by  degrees 
contending  parties.  Denmark,  the  ancient  ally  of  the  repub- 
lic, was  threatened  with  destruction  by  Charles  Gustavus, 
king  of  Sweden,  who  held  Copenhagen  in  blockade.  The 


TO  THE  PEACE  OF  NIMEGUEN         299 

interests  of  Holland  were  in  imminent  peril  should  the 
Swedes  gain  the  passage  of  the  Sound.  This  double  mo- 
tive influenced  De  Witt;  and  he  persuaded  the  states- 
general  to  send  Admiral  Opdam  with  a  considerable  fleet 
to  the  Baltic.  This  intrepid  successor  of  the  immortal 
Tromp  soon  came  to  blows  with  a  rival  worthy  to  meet 
him.  "Wrangel,  the  Swedish  admiral,  with  a  superior  force, 
defended  the  passage  of  the  Sound ;  and  the  two  castles  of 
Cronenberg  and  Elsenberg  supported  his  fleet  with  their 
tremendous  fire.  But  Opdam  resolutely  advanced;  though 
suffering  extreme  anguish  from  an  attack  of  gout,  he  had 
himself  carried  on  deck,  where  he  gave  his  orders  with  the 
most  admirable  coolness  and  precision,  in  the  midst  of  dan- 
ger and  carnage.  The  rival  monarchs  witnessed  the  battle ; 
the  king  of  Sweden  from  the  castle  of  Cronenberg,  and  the 
king  of  Denmark  from  the  summit  of  the  highest  tower  in 
his  besieged  capital.  A  brilliant  victory  crowned  the  efforts 
of  the  Dutch  admiral,  dearly  bought  by  the  death  of  his 
second  in  command,  the  brave  De  Witt,  and  Peter  Florizon, 
another  admiral  of  note;  Relief  was  poured  into  Copen- 
hagen. Opdam  was  replaced  in  the  command,  too  arduous 
for  his  infirmities,  by  the  still  more  celebrated  De  Ruyter, 
who  was  greatly  distinguished  by  his  valor  in  several  suc- 
cessive affairs :  and  after  some  months  more  of  useless  ob- 
stinacy, the  king  of  Sweden,  seeing  his  army  perish  in  the 
island  of  Funen,  by  a  combined  attack  of  those  of  Holland 
and  Denmark,  consented  to  a  peace  highly  favorable  to  the 
latter  power. 

These  transactions  placed  the  United  Provinces  on  a  still 
higher  pinnacle  of  glory  than  they  had  ever  reached.  In- 
testine disputes  were  suddenly  calmed.  The  Algerines  and 
other  pirates  were  swept  from  the  seas  by  a  succession  of 
small  but  vigorous  expeditions.  The  mediation  of  the  States 
re-established  peace  in  several  of  the  petty  states  of  Ger- 
many. England  and  France  were  both  held  in  check,  if 
not  preserved  in  friendship,  by  the  dread  of  their  recovered 
power.  Trade  and  finance  were  reorganized.  Everything 


800  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

seemed  to  promise  a  long-continued  peace  and  growing 
greatness,  much  of  which  was  owing  to  the  talents  and 
persevering  energy  of  De  Witt;  and,  to  complete  the  good 
work  of  European  tranquillity,  the  French  and  Spanish 
monarchs  concluded  in  this  year  the  treaty  known  by  the 
name  of  the  "peace  of  the  Pyrenees." 

Cromwell  had  now  closed  his  career,  and  Charles  II. 
was  restored  to  the  throne  from  which  he  had  so  long  been 
excluded.  The  complimentary  entertainments  rendered  to 
the  restored  king  in  Holland  were  on  the  proudest  scale  of 
expense.  He  left  the  country  which  had  given  him  refuge 
in  misfortune,  and  done  him  honor  in  his  prosperity,  with 
profuse  expressions  of  regard  and  gratitude.  Scarcely  was 
he  established  in  his  recovered  kingdom,  when  a  still  greater 
testimony  of  deference  to  his  wishes  was  paid,  by  the  states- 
general  formally  annulling  the  act  of  exclusion  against  the 
House  of  Orange.  A  variety  of  motives,  however,  acting 
on  the  easy  and  plastic  mind  of  the  monarch,  soon  effaced 
whatever  of  gratitude  he  had  at  first  conceived.  He  readily 
entered  into  the  views  of  the  English  nation,  which  was 
irritated  by  the  great  commercial  superiority  of  Holland, 
and  a  jealousy  excited  by  its  close  connection  with  France 
at  this  period. 

It  was  not  till  the  22d  of  February,  1665,  that  war  was 
formally  declared  against  the  Dutch;  but  many  previous 
acts  of  hostility  had  taken  place  in  expeditions  against  their 
settlements  on  the  coast  of  Africa  and  in  America,  which 
were  retaliated  by  De  Ruyter  with  vigor  and  success.  The 
Dutch  used  every  possible  means  of  avoiding  the  last  ex- 
tremities. De  Witt  employed  all  the  powers  of  his  great 
capacity  to  avert  the  evil  of  war;  but  nothing  could  finally 
prevent  it,  and  the  sea  was  once  more  to  witness  the  conflict 
between  those  who  claimed  its  sovereignty.  A  great  battle 
was  fought  on  the  31st  of  June.  The  duke  of  York,  after- 
ward James  II.,  commanded  the  British  fleet,  and  had 
under  him  the  earl  of  Sandwich  and  Prince  Rupert.  The 
Dutch  were  led  on  by  Opdam ;  and  the  victory  was  decided 


TO   THE   PEACE   OF   NIMEGUEN  301 

in  favor  of  the  English  by  the  blowing  up  of  that  admiral's 
Bhip,  with  himself  and  his  whole  crew.  The  loss  of  the 
Dutch  was  altogether  nineteen  ships.  De  Witt  the  pension- 
ary then  took  in  person  the  command  of  the  fleet,  which 
was  soon  equipped ;  and  he  gave  a  high  proof  of  the  adapta- 
tion of  genius  to  a  pursuit  previously  unknown,  by  the  rapid 
knowledge  and  the  practical  improvements  he  introduced 
into  some  of  the  most  intricate  branches  of  naval  tactics. 

Immense  efforts  were  now  made  by  England,  but  with 
a  very  questionable  policy,  to  induce  Louis  XIV.  to  join 
in  the  war.  Charles  offered  to  allow  of  his  acquiring  the 
whole  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  provided  he  would  leave 
him  without  interruption  to  destroy  the  Dutch  navy  (and, 
consequently,  their  commerce),  in  the  by  no  means  certain 
expectation  that  its  advantages  would  all  fall  to  the  share 
of  England.  But  the  king  of  France  resolved  to  support 
the  republic.  The  king  of  Denmark,  too,  formed  an  alli- 
ance with  them,  after  a  series  of  the  most  strange  tergiver- 
sations. Spain,  reduced  to  feebleness,  and  menaced  with 
invasion  by  France,  showed  no  alacrity  to  meet  Charles's 
overtures  for  an  offensive  treaty.  Van  Galen,  bishop  of 
Munster,  a  restless  prelate,  was  the  only  ally  he  could  ac- 
quire. This  bishop,  at  the  head  of  a  tumultuous  force  of 
twenty  thousand  men,  penetrated  into  Friesland;  but  six 
thousand  French  were  despatched  by  Louis  to  the  assist- 
ance of  the  republic,  and  this  impotent  invasion  was  easily 
repelled. 

The  republic,  encouraged  by  all  these  favorable  circum- 
stances, resolved  to  put  forward  its  utmost  energies.  Inter- 
nal discords  were  once  more  appeased;  the  harbors  were 
crowded  with  merchant  ships ;  the  young  Prince  of  Orange 
had  put  himself  under  the  tuition  of  the  states  of  Holland 
and  of  De  Witt,  who  faithfully  executed  his  trust ;  and  De 
Ruyter  was  ready  to  lead  on  the  fleet.  The  English,  in 
spite  of  the  dreadful  calamity  of  the  great  fire  of  London, 
the  plague  which  desolated  the  city,  and  a  declaration  of 
war  on  the  part  of  France,  prepared  boldly  for  the  shock. 


802  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

The  Dutch  fleet,  commanded  by  De  Ruyter  and  Tromp, 
the  gallant  successor  of  his  father's  fame,  was  soon  at  sea. 
The  English,  under  Prince  Rupert  and  Monk,  now  duke  of 
Albemarle,  did  not  lie  idle  in  port.  A  battle  of  four  days' 
continuance,  one  of  the  most  determined  and  terrible  up 
to  this  period  on  record,  was  the  consequence.  The  Dutch 
claim,  and  it  appears  with  justice,  to  have  had  the  advan- 
tage. But  a  more  decisive  conflict  took  place  on  the  25th 
of  July,1  when  a  victory  was  gained  by  the  English,  the 
enemy  having  three  of  their  admirals  killed.  "My  God!" 
exclaimed  De  Ruyter,  during  this  desperate  fight,  and  see- 
ing the  certainty  of  defeat;  "what  a  wretch  I  am!  Among 
so  many  thousand  bullets,  is  there  not  one  to  put  an  end  to 
my  miserable  life?" 

The  king  of  France  hastened  forward  in  this  crisis  to  the 
assistance  of  the  republic ;  and  De  "Witt,  by  a  deep  stroke  of 
policy,  amused  the  English  with  negotiation  while  a  power- 
ful fleet  was  fitted  out.  It  suddenly  appeared  in  the  Thames, 
under  the  command  of  De  Ruyter,  and  all  England  was 
thrown  into  consternation.  The  Dutch  took  Sheerness,  and 
burned  many  ships  of  war;  almost  insulting  the  capital  it- 
self in  their  predatory  incursion.  Had  the  French  power 
joined  that  of  the  Provinces  at  this  time,  and  invaded  Eng- 
land, the  most  fatal  results  to  that  kingdom  might  have 
taken  place.  But  the  alarm  soon  subsided  with  the  disap- 
pearance of  the  hostile  fleet;  and  the  signing  the  peace  of 
Breda,  on  the  10th  of  July,  1667,  extricated  Charles  from 
his  present  difficulties.  The  island  of  Polerone  was  restored 
to  the  Dutch,  and  the  point  of  maritime  superiority  was,  on 
this  occasion,  undoubtedly  theirs. 

While  Holland  was  preparing  to  indulge  in  the  luxury  of 
national  repose,  the  death  of  Philip  IV.  of  Spain,  and  the 
startling  ambition  of  Louis  XIV.,  brought  war  once  more  to 
their  very  doors,  and  soon  even  forced  it  across  the  threshold 

1  In  all  these  naval  battles  we  have  followed  Hume  and  the  English  historians 
as  to  dates,  which,  in  almost  every  instance,  are  strangely  at  variance  with 
those  given  by  the  Dutch  writers. 


TO   THE   PEACE    OF   NIMEGUEN  303 

of  the  republic.  The  king  of  France,  setting  at  naught  his 
solemn  renunciation  at  the  peace  of  the  Pyrenees  of  all 
claims  to  any  part  of  the  Spanish  territories  in  right  of  his 
wife,  who  was  daughter  of  the  late  king,  found  excellent 
reasons  (for  his  own  satisfaction)  to  invade  a  material  por- 
tion of  that  declining  monarchy.  "Well  prepared  by  the 
financial  and  military  foresight  of  Colbert  for  his  great  de- 
sign, he  suddenly  poured  a  powerful  army,  under  Turenne, 
into  Brabant  and  Flanders;  quickly  overran  and  took  pos- 
session of  these  provinces ;  and,  in  the  space  of  three  weeks, 
added  Franche-Comte  to  his  conquests.  Europe  was  in  uni- 
versal alarm  at  these  unexpected  measures;  and  no  state 
felt  more  terror  than  the  republic  of  the  United  Provinces. 
The  interest  of  all  countries  seemed  now  to  require  a  coali- 
tion against  the  power  which  had  abandoned  the  House  of 
Austria  only  to  settle  on  France.  The  first  measure  to  this 
effect  was  the  signing  of  the  triple  league  between  Holland, 
Sweden,  and  England,  at  The  Hague,  on  the  13th  of  Jan- 
uary, 1668.  But  this  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  futile 
confederations  on  record.  Charles,  with  almost  unheard-of 
perfidy  throughout  the  transaction,  fell  in  with  the  designs 
of  his  pernicious,  and  on  this  occasion  purchased,  cabinet, 
called  the  Cabal ;  and  he  entered  into  a  secret  treaty  with 
France,  in  the  very  teeth  of  his  other  engagements.  Sweden 
was  dissuaded  from  the  league  by  the  arguments  of  the 
French  ministers ;  and  Holland  in  a  short  time  found  itself 
involved  in  a  double  war  with  its  late  allies. 

A  base  and  piratical  attack  on  the  Dutch  Smyrna  fleet 
by  a  large  force  under  Sir  Robert  Holmes,  on  the  13th  of 
March,  1672,  was  the  first  overt  act  of  treachery  on  the  part 
of  the  English  government.  The  attempt  completely  failed, 
through  the  prudence  and  valor  of  the  Dutch  admirals ;  and 
Charles  reaped  only  the  double  shame  of  perfidy  and  defeat. 
He  instantly  issued  a  declaration  of  war  against  the  re- 
public, on  reasoning  too  palpably  false  to  require  refuta- 
tion, and  too  frivolous  to  merit  record  to  the  exclusion  of 
more  important  matter  from  our  narrow  limits. 


304  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

Louis  at  least  covered  with  the  semblance  of  dignity  his 
unjust  co-operation  in  this  violence.  He  soon  advanced 
with  his  army,  and  the  contingents  of  Munster  and  Cologne, 
his  allies,  amounting  altogether  to  nearly  one  hundred  and 
seventy  thousand  men,  commanded  by  Conde,  Turenne, 
Luxemburg,  and  others  of  the  greatest  generals  of  France. 
Never  was  any  country  less  prepared  than  were  the  United 
Provinces  to  resist  this  formidable  aggression.  Their  army 
was  as  naught;  their  long  cessation  of  military  operations 
by  land  having  totally  ^demoralized  that  once  invincible 
branch  of  their  forces.  No  general  existed  who  knew  any- 
thing of  the  practice  of  war.  Their  very  stores  of  ammuni- 
tion had  been  delivered  over,  in  the  way  of  traffic,  to  the 
enemy  who  now  prepared  to  overwhelm  them.  De  Witt 
was  severely,  and  not  quite  unjustly,  blamed  for  having 
suffered  the  country  to  be  thus  taken  by  surprise,  utterly 
defenceless,  and  apparently  without  resource.  Envy  of  his 
uncommon  merit  aggravated  the  just  complaints  against 
his  error.  But,  above  all  things,  the  popular  affection  to 
the  young  prince  threatened,  in  some  great  convulsion,  the 
overthrow  of  the  pensionary,  who  was  considered  eminently 
hostile  to  the  illustrious  House  of  Orange. 

William  III.,  prince  of  Orange,  now  twenty-two  years 
of  age,  was  amply  endowed  with  those  hereditary  qualities  of 
valor  and  wisdom  which  only  required  experience  to  give  him 
rank  with  the  greatest  of  his  ancestors.  The  Louvenstein 
party,  as  the  adherents  of  the  House  of  Orange  were  called, 
now  easily  prevailed  in  their  long-conceived  design  of  plac- 
ing him  at  the  head  of  affairs,  with  the  titles  of  captain- 
general  and  high  admiral.  De  Witt,  anxious  from  personal 
considerations,  as  well  as  patriotism,  to  employ  every  means 
of  active  exertion,  attempted  the  organization  of  an  army, 
and  hastened  the  equipment  of  a  formidable  fleet  of  nearly 
a  hundred  ships  of  the  line  and  half  as  many  fire-ships.  De 
Ruyter,  now  without  exception  the  greatest  commander  of 
the  age,  set  sail  with  this  force  in  search  of  the  combined 
fleets  of  England  and  France,  commanded  by  the  duke  of 


TO    THE    PEACE    OF    NIMEGUEN  305 

York  and  Marshal  D'Etrees.  He  encountered  them,  on  the 
6th  of  May,  1672,  at  Solebay.  A  most  bloody  engagement 
was  the  result  of  this  meeting.  Sandwich,  on  the  side  of 
the  English,  and  Van  Ghent,  a  Dutch  admiral,  were  slain. 
The  glory  of  the  day  was  divided;  the  victory  doubtful; 
but  the  sea  was  not  the  element  on  which  the  fate  of 
Holland  was  to  be  decided. 

The  French  armies  poured  like  a  torrent  into  the  terri- 
tories of  the  republic.  Rivers  were  passed,  towns  taken, 
and  provinces  overrun  with  a  rapidity  much  less  honorable 
to  France  than  disgraceful  to  Holland.  No  victory  was 
gained — no  resistance  offered;  and  it  is  disgusting  to  look 
back  on  the  fulsome  panegyrics  with  which  courtiers  and 
poets  lauded  Louis  for  those  facile  and  inglorious  triumphs. 
The  Prince  of  Orange  had  received  the  command  of  a  nomi- 
nal army  of  seventy  thousand  men ;  but  with  this  undisci- 
plined and  discouraged  mass  he  could  attempt  nothing.  He 
prudently  retired  into  the  province  of  Holland,  vainly  hop- 
ing that  the  numerous  fortresses  on  the  frontiers  would  have 
offered  some  resistance  to  the  enemy.  Guelders,  Overyssel 
and  Utrecht  were  already  in  Louis's  hands.  Groningen 
and  Friesland  were  threatened.  Holland  and  Zealand  op- 
posed obstruction  to  such  rapid  conquest  from  then:  natural 
position;  and  Amsterdam  set  a  noble  example  to  the  re- 
maining towns — forming  a  regular  and  energetic  plan  of 
defence,  and  endeavoring  to  infuse  its  spirit  into  the  rest. 
The  sluices,  those  desperate  sources  at  once  of  safety  and 
desolation,  were  opened;  the  whole  country  submerged; 
and  the  other  provinces  following  this  example,  extensive 
districts  of  fertility  and  wealth  were  given  to  the  sea,  for 
the  exclusion  of  which  so  many  centuries  had  scarcely 
sufficed. 

The  states- general  now  assembled,  and  it  was  decided 
to  supplicate  for  peace  at  the  hands  of  the  combined  mon- 
archs.  The  haughty  insolence  of  Louvois,  coinciding  with 
the  temper  of  Louis  himself,  made  the  latter  propose  the 
following  conditions  as  the  price  of  peace :  To  take  off  all 


306  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

duties  on  commodities  exported  into  Holland;  to  grant  the 
free  exercise  of  the  Romish  religion  in  the  United  Prov- 
inces; to  share  the  churches  with  the  Catholics,  and  to  pay 
their  priests ;  to  yield  up  all  the  frontier  towns,  with  several 
in  the  heart  of  the  republic;  to  pay  him  twenty  million 
livres;  to  send  him  every  year  a  solemn  embassy,  accom- 
panied by  a  present  of  a  golden  medal,  as  an  acknowledg- 
ment that  they  owed  him  their  liberty;  and,  finally,  that 
they  should  give  entire  satisfaction  to  the  king  of  England. 

Charles,  on  his  part,  after  the  most  insulting  treatment 
of  the  ambassadors  sent  to  London,  required,  among  other 
terms,  that  the  Dutch  should  give  up  the  honor  of  the  flag 
without  reserve,  whole  fleets  being  expected,  even  on  the 
coasts  of  Holland,  to  lower  their  topsails  to  the  smallest  ship 
under  British  colors ;  that  the  Dutch  should  pay  one  million 
pounds  sterling  toward  the  charges  of  the  war,  and  ten  thou- 
sand pounds  a  year  for  permission  to  fish  in  the  British  seas ; 
that  they  should  share  the  Indian  trade  with  the  English ; 
and  that  "Walcheren  and  several  other  islands  should  be  put 
into  the  king's  hands  as  security  for  the  performance  of  the 
articles. 

The  insatiable  monarchs  overshot  the  mark.  Existence 
was  not  worth  preserving  on  these  intolerable  terms.  Hol- 
land was  driven  to  desperation;  and  even  the  people  of 
England  were  inspired  with  indignation  at  this  monstrous 
injustice.  In  the  republic  a  violent  explosion  of  popular 
excess  took  place.  The  people  now  saw  no  safety  but  in 
the  courage  and  talents  of  the  Prince  of  Orange.  He  was 
tumultuously  proclaimed  stadtholder.  De  Witt  and  his 
brother  Cornelis,  the  conscientious  but  too  obstinate  oppo- 
nents of  this  measure  of  salvation,  fell  victims  to  the  pop- 
ular frenzy.  The  latter,  condemned  to  banishment  on  an 
atrocious  charge  of  intended  assassination  against  the  Prince 
of  Orange,  was  visited  in  his  prison  at  The  Hague  by  the 
grand  pensionary.  The  rabble,  incited  to  fury  by  the  cal- 
umnies spread  against  these  two  virtuous  citizens,  broke  into 
the  prison,  forced  the  unfortunate  brothers  into  the  street, 


TO   THE   PEACE   OF   NIMEGUEN  307 

and  there  literally  tore  them  to  pieces  with  circumstances 
of  the  most  brutal  ferocity.  This  horrid  scene  took  place 
on  the  27th  of  August,  1672. 

The  massacre  of  the  De  Witts  completely  destroyed  the 
party  of  which  they  were  the  head.  All  men  now  united 
under  the  only  leader  left  to  the  country.  William  showed 
himself  well  worthy  of  the  trust,  and  of  his  heroic  blood. 
He  turned  his  whole  force  against  the  enemy.  He  sought 
nothing  for  himself  but  the  glory  of  saving  his  country; 
and  taking  his  ancestors  for  models,  in  the  best  points  of 
their  respective  characters,  he  combined  prudence  with 
energy,  and  firmness  with  moderation.  His  spirit  inspired 
all  ranks  of  men.  The  conditions  of  peace  demanded  by 
the  partner  kings  were  rejected  with  scorn.  The  whole 
nation  was  moved  by  one  concentrated  principle  of  hero- 
ism ;  and  it  was  even  resolved  to  put  the  ancient  notion  of 
the  first  William  into  practice,  and  abandon  the  country  to 
the  waves,  sooner  than  submit  to  the  political  annihilation 
with  which  it  was  threatened.  The  capability  of  the  ves- 
sels in  their  harbors  was  calculated;  and  they  were  found 
sufficient  to  transport  two  hundred  thousand  families  to  the 
Indian  settlements.  We  must  hasten  from  this  sublime 
picture  of  national  desperation.  The  glorious  hero  who 
stands  in  its  foreground  was  inaccessible  to  every  overture 
of  corruption.  Buckingham,  the  English  ambassador,  of- 
fered him,  on  the  part  of  England  and  France,  the  inde- 
pendent sovereignty  of  Holland,  if  he  would  abandon  the 
other  provinces  to  their  grasp;  and,  urging  his  consent, 
asked  him  if  he  did  not  see  that  the  republic  was  ruined? 
" There  is  one  means,"  replied  the  Prince  of  Orange,  "which 
will  save  me  from  the  sight  of  my  country's  ruin — I  will  die 
in  the  last  ditch." 

Action  soon  proved  the  reality  of  the  prince's  profession. 
He  took  the  field ;  having  first  punished  with  death  some  of 
the  cowardly  commanders  of  the  frontier  towns.  He  be- 
sieged and  took  Naarden,  an  important  place;  and,  by  a 
masterly  movement,  formed  a  junction  with  Montecuculi, 


HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

whom  the  emperor  Leopold  had  at  length  sent  to  his  assist- 
ance with  twenty  thousand  men.  Groningen  repulsed  the 
bishop  of  Munster,  the  ally  of  France,  with  a  loss  of  twelve 
thousand  men.  The  king  of  Spain  (such  are  the  strange 
fluctuations  of  political  friendship  and  enmity)  sent  the 
count  of  Monterey,  governor  of  the  Belgian  provinces, 
with  ten  thousand  men  to  support  the  Dutch  army.  The 
elector  of  Brandenburg  also  lent  them  aid.  The  whole  face 
of  affairs  was  changed;  and  Louis  was  obliged  to  abandon 
all  his  conquests  with  more  rapidity  than  he  had  made  them. 
Two  desperate  battles  at  sea,  on  the  28th  of  May  and  the 
4th  of  June,  in  which  De  Ruyter  and  Prince  Rupert  again 
distinguished  themselves,  only  proved  the  valor  of  the  com- 
batants, leaving  victory  still  doubtful.  England  was  with 
one  common  feeling  ashamed  of  the  odious  war  in  which 
the  king  and  his  unworthy  ministers  had  engaged  the  na- 
tion. Charles  was  forced  to  make  peace  on  the  conditions 
proposed  by  the  Dutch.  The  honor  of  the  flag  was  yielded 
to  the  English ;  a  regulation  of  trade  was  agreed  to ;  all  pos- 
sessions were  restored  to  the  same  condition  as  before  the 
war;  and  the  states-general  agreed  to  pay  the  king  eight 
hundred  thousand  patacoons,  or  nearly  three  hundred  thou- 
sand pounds. 

With  these  encouraging  results  from  the  Prince  of 
Orange's  influence  and  example,  Holland  persevered  in 
the  contest  with  France.  He,  in  the  first  place,  made 
head,  during  a  winter  campaign  in  Holland,  against  Mar- 
shal Luxemburg,  who  had  succeeded  Turenne  in  the  Low 
Countries,  the  latter  being  obliged  to  march  against  the  im- 
perialists in  Westphalia.  He  next  advanced  to  oppose  the 
great  Conde,  who  occupied  Brabant  with  an  army  of  forty- 
five  thousand  men.  After  much  manoeuvring,  in  which 
the  Prince  of  Orange  displayed  consummate  talent,  he  on 
only  one  occasion  exposed  a  part  of  his  army  to  a  disad- 
vantageous contest.  Conde  seized  on  the  error;  and  of  his 
own  accord  gave  the  battle  to  which  his  young  opponent 
could  not  succeed  in  forcing  him.  The  battle  of  Senef  is 


TO   THE    PEACE    OF   NIMEGUEN  30& 

remarkable  not  merely  for  the  fury  with  which  it  was 
fought,  or  for  its  leaving  victory  undecided,  but  as  being 
the  last  combat  of  one  commander  and  the  first  of  the 
other.  "The  Prince  of  Orange,"  said  the  veteran  Conde 
(who  had  that  day  exposed  his  person  more  than  on  any 
previous  occasion),  "has  acted  in  everything  like  an  old 
captain,  except  venturing  his  life  too  like  a  young  soldier." 
The  campaign  of  1675  offered  no  remarkable  event;  the 
Prince  of  Orange  with  great  prudence  avoiding  the  risk  of 
a  battle.  But  the  following  year  was  rendered  fatally  re- 
markable by  the  death  of  the  great  De  Ruyter,1  who  was 
killed  in  an  action  against  the  French  fleet  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean; and  about  the  same  time  the  not  less  celebrated 
Turenne  met  his  death  from  a  cannon-ball  in  the  midst  of 
his  triumphs  in  Germany.  This  year  was  doubly  occupied 
in  a  negotiation  for  peace  and  an  active  prosecution  of  the 
war.  Louis,  at  the  head  of  his  army,  took  several  towns 
in  Belgium:  William  was  unsuccessful  in  an  attempt  on 
Maestricht.  About  the  beginning  of  winter,  the  plenipo- 
tentiaries of  the  several  belligerents  assembled  at  Nimeguen, 
where  the  congress  for  peace  was  held.  The  Hollanders, 
loaded  with  debts  and  taxes,  and  seeing  the  weakness  and 
slowness  of  their  allies,  the  Spaniards  and  Germans,  prognosti- 
cated nothing  but  misfortunes.  Their  commerce  languished ; 
while  that  of  England,  now  neutral  amid  all  these  quarrels, 
flourished  extremely.  The  Prince  of  Orange,  however,  am- 
bitious of  glory,  urged  another  campaign ;  and  it  commenced 
accordingly.  In  the  middle  of  February,  Louis  carried 
Valenciennes  by  storm,  and  laid  siege  to  St.  Omer  and 
Cambray.  "William,  though  full  of  activity,  courage,  and 
skill,  was,  nevertheless,  almost  always  unsuccessful  in  the 
field,  and  never  more  so  than  in  this  campaign.  Several 
towns  fell  almost  in  his  sight ;  and  he  was  completely  de- 
feated in  the  great  battle  of  Mount  Cassel  by  the  duke  of 

1  The  council  of  Spain  gave  De  Ruyter  the  title  and  letters  patent  of  duke. 
The  latter  arrived  in  Holland  after  his  death;  and  his  children,  with,  true 
republican  spirit,  refused  to  adopt  the  title. 


810  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

Orleans  and  Marshal  Luxemburg.  But  the  period  for  an- 
other peace  was  now  approaching.  Louis  offered  fair  terms 
for  the  acceptance  of  the  United  Provinces  at  the  congress 
of  .N"imeguen,  April,  1678,  as  he  now  considered  his  chief 
enemies  Spain  and  the  empire,  who  had  at  first  only  entered 
into  the  war  as  auxiliaries.  He  was,  no  doubt,  principally 
impelled  in  his  measures  by  the  marriage  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange  with  the  lady  Mary,  eldest  daughter  of  the  duke 
of  York,  and  heir  presumptive  to  the  English  crown,  which 
took  place  on  the  23d  of  October,  to  the  great  joy  of  both 
the  Dutch  and  English  nations.  Charles  was  at  this  mo- 
ment the  arbiter  of  the  peace  of  Europe ;  and  though  sev- 
eral fluctuations  took  place  in  his  policy  in  the  course  of  a 
few  months,  as  the  urgent  wishes  of  the  parliament  and  the 
large  presents  of  Louis  differently  actuated  him,  still  the 
wiser  and  more  just  course  prevailed,  and  he  finally  decided 
the  balance  by  vigorously  declaring  his  resolution  for  peace ; 
and  the  treaty  was  consequently  signed  at  Nimeguen,  on 
the  10th  of  August,  1678.  The  Prince  of  Orange,  from  pri- 
vate motives  of  spleen,  or  a  most  unjustifiable  desire  for 
fighting,  took  the  extraordinary  measure  of  attacking  the 
French  troops  under  Luxemburg,  near  Mons,  on  the  very 
day  after  the  signing  of  this  treaty.  He  must  have  known 
it,  even  though  it  were  not  officially  notified  to  him ;  and 
he  certainly  had  to  answer  for  all  the  blood  so  wantonly 
spilled  in  the  sharp  though  undecisive  action  which  ensued. 
Spain,  abandoned  to  her  fate,  was  obliged  to  make  the  best 
terms  she  could;  and  on  the  17th  of  September  she  also 
concluded  a  treaty  with  France,  on  conditions  entirely 
favorable  to  the  latter  power. 


CHAPTER  XX 

FROM  THE  PEACE  OF  NIMEGUEN  TO  THE  PEACE  OF  UTRECHT 

A.D.  1678-1718 

A  FEW  years  passed  over  after  this  period,  without  the 
occurrence  of  any  transaction  sufficiently  important 
to  require  a  mention  here.  Each  of  the  powers  so 
lately  at  war  followed  the  various  bent  of  their  respective 
ambition.  Charles  of  England  was  sufficiently  occupied  by 
disputes  with  parliament,  and  the  discovery,  fabrication, 
and  punishment  of  plots,  real  or  pretended.  Louis  XIV., 
by  a  stretch  of  audacious  pride  hitherto  unknown,  arrogated 
to  himself  the  supreme  power  of  regulating  the  rest  of  Eu- 
rope, as  if  all  the  other  princes  were  his  vassals.  He  estab- 
lished courts,  or  chambers  of  reunion  as  they  were  called, 
in  Metz  and  Brisac,  which  cited  princes,  issued  decrees,  and 
authorized  spoliation,  in  the  most  unjust  and  arbitrary  man- 
ner. Louis  chose  to  award  to  himself  Luxemburg,  Chiny, 
and  a  considerable  portion  of  Brabant  and  Flanders.  Ha 
marched  a  considerable  army  into  Belgium,  which  the 
Spanish  governors  were  unable  to  oppose.  The  Prince  of 
Orange,  who  labored  incessantly  to  excite  a  confederacy 
among  the  other  powers  of  Europe  against  the  unwarrant- 
able aggressions  of  France,  was  unable  to  arouse  his  coun- 
trymen to  actual  war;  and  was  forced,  instead  of  gaining 
the  glory  he  longed  for,  to  consent  to  a  truce  for  twenty 
years,  which  the  states-general,  now  wholly  pacific  and  not 
a  little  cowardly,  were  too  happy  to  obtain  from  France. 
The  emperor  and  the  king  of  Spain  gladly  entered  into  a 
like  treaty.  The  fact  was  that  the  peace  of  Nimeguen  had 
disjointed  the  great  confederacy  which  William  had  so  sue- 

(311) 


812  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

cessf  ully  brought  about ;  and  the  various  powers  were  laid 
utterly  prostrate  at  the  feet  of  the  imperious  Louis,  who  for 
a  while  held  the  destinies  of  Europe  in  his  hands. 

Charles  II.  died  most  unexpectedly  hi  the  year  1685; 
and  his  obstinately  bigoted  and  unconstitutional  successor, 
James  II.,  seemed,  during  a  reign  of  not  four  years'  con- 
tinuance, to  rush  wilfully  headlong  to  ruin.  During  this 
period,  the  Prince  of  Orange  had  maintained  a  most  cir- 
cumspect and  unexceptionable  line  of  conduct ;  steering  clear 
of  all  interference  with  English  affairs;  giving  offence  to 
none  of  the  political  factions;  and  observing  in  every  in- 
stance the  duty  and  regard  which  he  owed  to  his  father-in- 
law.  During  Monmouth's  invasion  he  had  despatched  to 
James's  assistance  six  regiments  of  British  troops  which 
were  in  the  Dutch  service,  and  he  offered  to  take  the  com- 
mand of  the  king's  forces  against  the  rebels.  It  was  from 
the  application  of  James  himself  that  William  took  any 
part  in  English  affairs ;  for  he  was  more  widely  and  much 
more  congenially  employed  in  the  establishment  of  a  fresh 
league  against  France.  Louis  had  aroused  a  new  feeling 
throughout  Protestant  Europe  by  the  revocation  of  the  Edict 
of  Nantes.  The  refugees  whom  he  had  driven  from  their 
native  country  inspired  in  those  in  which  they  settled  hatred 
of  his  persecution  as  well  as  alarm  of  his  power.  Holland 
now  entered  into  all  the  views  of  the  Prince  of  Orange.  By 
his  immense  influence  he  succeeded  in  forming  the  great 
confederacy  called  the  League  of  Augsburg,  to  which  the 
emperor,  Spain,  and  almost  every  European  power  but  Eng- 
land became  parties. 

James  gave  the  prince  reason  to  believe  that  he  too 
would  join  in  this  great  project,  if  William  would  in  re 
turn  concur  in  his  views  of  domestic  tyranny ;  but  William 
wisely  refused.  James,  much  disappointed,  and  irritated 
by  the  moderation  which  showed  his  own  violence  in  such 
striking  contrast,  expressed  his  displeasure  against  the 
prince,  and  against  the  Dutch  generally,  by  various  vexa- 
tious acts.  William  resolved  to  maintain  a  high  attitude; 


TO  THE  PEACE  OF  UTRECHT          313 

and  many  applications  were  made  to  him  by  the  most  con- 
siderable persons  in  England  for  relief  against  James's  vio- 
lent measures,  and  which  there  was  but  one  method  of  mak- 
ing effectual.  That  method  was  force.  But  as  long  as  the 
Princess  of  Orange  was  certain  of  succeeding  to  the  crown  on 
her  father's  death,  William  hesitated  to  join  in  an  attempt 
that  might  possibly  have  failed  and  lost  her  her  inheri- 
tance. But  the  birth  of  a  son,  which,  in  giving  James  a 
male  heir,  destroyed  all  hope  of  redress  for  the  kingdom, 
decided  the  wavering,  and  rendered  the  determined  des- 
perate. The  prince  chose  the  time  for  his  enterprise  with 
the  sagacity,  arranged  its  plan  with  the  prudence,  and  put 
it  into  execution  with  the  vigor,  which  were  habitual  quali- 
ties of  his  mind. 

Louis  XIV.,  menaced  by  the  League  of  Augsburg,  had 
resolved  to  strike  the  first  blow  against  the  allies.  He  in- 
vaded Germany ;  so  that  the  Dutch  preparations  seemed  in 
the  first  instance  intended  as  measures  of  defence  against 
the  progress  of  the  French.  But  Louis's  envoy  at  The 
Hague  could  not  be  long  deceived.  He  gave  notice  to 
his  master,  who  in  his  turn  warned  James.  But  that  in- 
fatuated monarch  not  only  doubted  the  intelligence,  but 
refused  the  French  king's  offers  of  assistance  and  co-oper- 
ation. On  the  21st  of  October,  the  Prince  of  Orange,  with 
an  army  of  fourteen  thousand  men,  and  a  fleet  of  five  hun- 
dred vessels  of  all  kinds,  set  sail  from  Helvoetsluys ;  and 
after  some  delays  from  bad  weather,  he  safely  landed  his 
army  in  Torbay,  on  the  5th  of  November,  1688.  The  de- 
sertion of  James's  best  friends;  his  own  consternation, 
flight,  seizure,  and  second  escape;  and  the  solemn  act  by 
which  he  was  deposed;  were  the  rapid  occurrences  of  a 
few  weeks :  and  thus  the  grandest  revolution  that  England 
had  ever  seen  was  happily  consummated.  Without  entering 
here  on  legislative  reasonings  or  party  sophisms,  it  is  enough 
to  record  the  act  itself ;  and  to  say,  in  reference  to  our  more 
immediate  subject,  that  without  the  assistance  of  Holland 

and  her  glorious  chief,  England  might  have  still  remained 

Holland. — 14 


814  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

enslaved,  or  have  had  to  purchase  liberty  by  oceans  of  blood. 
By  the  bill  of  settlement,  the  crown  was  conveyed  jointly  to 
the  Prince  and  Princess  of  Orange,  the  sole  administration 
of  government  to  remain  in  the  prince ;  and  the  new  sover- 
eigns were  proclaimed  on  the  23d  of  February,  1689.  The 
convention,  which  had  arranged  this  important  point,  an- 
nexed to  the  settlement  a  declaration  of  rights,  by  which 
the  powers  of  royal  prerogative  and  the  extent  of  popular 
privilege  were  defined  and  guaranteed. 

"William,  now  become  king  of  England,  still  preserved 
his  title  of  stadtholder  of  Holland ;  and  presented  the  singu- 
lar instance  of  a  monarchy  and  a  republic  being  at  the  same 
time  governed  by  the  same  individual.  But  whether  as  a 
king  or  a  citizen,  "William  was  actuated  by  one  grand  and 
powerful  principle,  to  which  every  act  of  private  adminis- 
tration was  made  subservient,  although  it  certainly  caUed 
for  no  sacrifice  that  was  not  required  for  the  political  exist- 
ence of  the  two  nations  of  which  he  was  the  head.  Invet- 
erate opposition  to  the  power  of  Louis  XIV.  was  this  all- 
absorbing  motive.  A  sentiment  so  mighty  left  William  but 
little  time  for  inferior  points  of  government,  and  everything 
but  that  seems  to  have  irritated  and  disgusted  him.  He 
was  soon  again  on  the  Continent,  the  chief  theatre  of  his 
efforts.  He  put  himself  in  front  of  the  confederacy  which 
resulted  from  the  congress  of  Utrecht  in  1690.  He  took  the 
command  of  the  allied  army ;  and  till  the  hour  of  his  death, 
he  never  ceased  his  indefatigable  course  of  hostility,  whether 
in  the  camp  or  the  cabinet,  at  the  head  of  the  allied  armies, 
or  as  the  guiding  spirit  of  the  councils  which  gave  them 
force  and  motion. 

Several  campaigns  were  expended,  and  bloody  combats 
fought,  almost  all  to  the  disadvantage  of  "William,  whose 
genius  for  war  was  never  seconded  by  that  good  fortune 
which  so  often  decides  the  fate  of  battles  in  defiance  of  all 
the  calculations  of  talent.  But  no  reverse  had  power  to 
shake  the  constancy  and  courage  of  William.  He  always 
appeared  as  formidable  after  defeat  as  he  was  before  ac- 


TO   THE   PEACE    OF   UTRECHT  315 

tion.  His  conquerors  gained  little  but  the  honor  of  the  day. 
Fleurus,  Steinkerk,  Herwinde,  were  successively  the  scenes 
of  his  evil  fortune,  and  the  sources  of  his  fame.  His  re- 
treats were  master-strokes  of  vigilant  activity  and  profound 
combinations.  Many  eminent  sieges  took  place  during  this 
war.  Among  other  towns,  Mons  and  Namur  were  taken  by 
the  French,  and  Huy  by  the  allies ;  and  the  army  of  Marshal 
Villeroi  bombarded  Brussels  during  three  days,  in  August, 
1695,  with  such  fury  that  the  town-house,  fourteen  churches, 
and  four  thousand  houses,  were  reduced  to  ashes.  The  year 
following  this  event  saw  another  undecisive  campaign.  Dur- 
ing the  continuance  of  this  war,  the  naval  transactions  pre- 
sent no  grand  results.  Du  Bart,  a  celebrated  adventurer 
of  Dunkirk,  occupies  the  leading  place  in  those  affairs,  in 
which  he  carried  on  a  desultory  but  active  warfare  against 
the  Dutch  and  English  fleets,  and  generally  with  great 
success. 

All  the  nations  which  had  taken  part  in  so  many  wars 
were  now  becoming  exhausted  by  the  contest,  but  none  so 
much  so  as  France.  The  great  despot  who  had  so  long 
wielded  the  energies  of  that  country  with  such  wonderful 
splendor  and  success  found  that  his  unbounded  love  of  do- 
minion was  gradually  sapping  all  the  real  good  of  his  peo- 
ple, in  chimerical  schemes  of  universal  conquest.  England, 
though  with  much  resolution  voting  new  supplies,  and  in 
every  way  upholding  William  in  his  plans  for  the  continu- 
ance of  war,  was  rejoiced  when  Louis  accepted  the  media- 
tion of  Charles  XI.,  king  of  Sweden,  and  agreed  to  conces- 
sions which  made  peace  feasible.  The  emperor  and  Charles 
II.  of  Spain,  were  less  satisfied  with  those  concessions;  but 
everything  was  finally  arranged  to  meet  the  general  views 
of  the  parties,  and  negotiations  were  opened  at  Ryswyk. 
The  death  of  the  king  of  Sweden,  and  the  minority  of  his 
son  and  successor,  the  celebrated  Charles  XII.,  retarded 
them  on  points  of -form  for  some  time.  At  length,  on  the 
20th  of  September,  1697,  the  articles  of  the  treaty  were  sub- 
scribed by  the  Dutch,  English,  Spanish,  and  French  ambas- 


316  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

sadors.  The  treaty  consisted  of  seventeen  articles.  The 
French  king  declared  he  would  not  disturb  or  disquiet  the 
king  of  Great  Britain,  whose  title  he  now  for  the  first  time 
acknowledged.  Between  France  and  Holland  were  declared 
a  general  armistice,  perpetual  amity,  a  mutual  restitution  of 
towns,  a  reciprocal  renunciation  of  all  pretensions  upon  each 
other,  and  a  treaty  of  commerce  which  was  immediately  put 
into  execution.  Thus,  after  this  long,  expensive,  and  san- 
guinary war,  things  were  established  just  on  the  footing 
they  had  been  by  the  peace  of  Nimeguen;  and  a  great, 
though  unavailable  lesson,  read  to  the  world  on  the  futil- 
ity and  wickedness  of  those  quarrels  in  which  the  personal 
ambition  of  kings  leads  to  the  misery  of  the  people.  Had 
the  allies  been  true  to  each  other  throughout,  Louis  would 
certainly  have  been  reduced  much  lower  than  he  now  was. 
His  pride  was  humbled,  and  his  encroachments  stopped. 
But  the  sufferings  of  the  various  countries  engaged  in  the 
war  were  too  generally  reciprocal  to  make  its  result  of  any 
material  benefit  to  either.  The  emperor  held  out  for  a 
while,  encouraged  by  the  great  victory  gained  by  his  gen- 
eral, Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy,  over  the  Turks  at  Zenta  in 
Hungary;  but  he  finally  acceded  to  the  terms  offered  by 
France;  the  peace,  therefore,  became  general,  but,  unfort- 
unately for  Europe,  of  very  short  duration. 

France,  as  if  looking  forward  to  the  speedy  renewal  of 
hostilities,  still  kept  her  armies  undisbanded.  Let  the  fore- 
sight of  her  politicians  have  been  what  it  might,  this  nega- 
tive proof  of  it  was  justified  by  events.  The  king  of  Spain, 
a  weak  prince,  without  any  direct  heir  for  his  possessions, 
considered  himself  authorized  to  dispose  of  their  succession 
by  will.  The  leading  powers  of  Europe  thought  otherwise, 
and  took  this  right  upon  themselves.  Charles  died  on  the 
1st  of  November,  1700,  and  thus  put  the  important  question 
to  the  test.  By  a  solemn  testament  he  declared  Philip,  duke 
of  Anjou,  second  son  of  the  dauphin,  and  grandson  of  Louis 
XIV.,  his  successor  to  the  whole  of  the  Spanish  monarchy. 
Louis  immediately  renounced  his  adherence  to  the  treaties 


TO    THE    PEACE    OF    UTRECHT  317 

of  partition,  executed  at  The  Hague  and  in  London,  in  1698 
and  1700,  and  to  which  he  had  been  a  contracting  party; 
and  prepared  to  maintain  the  act  by  which  the  last  of  the 
descendants  of  Charles  V.  bequeathed  the  possessions  of 
Spain  and  the  Indies  to  the  family  which  had  so  long  been 
the  inveterate  enemy  and  rival  of  his  own. 

The  emperor  Leopold,  on  his  part,  prepared  to  defend  his 
claims ;  and  thus  commenced  the  new  war  between  him  and 
France,  which  took  its  name  from  the  succession  which 
formed  the  object  of  dispute.  Hostilities  were  commenced 
in  Italy,  where  Prince  Eugene,  the  conqueror  of  the  Turks, 
commanded  for  Leopold,  and  every  day  made  for  himself  a 
still  more  brilliant  reputation.  Louis  sent  his  grandson  to 
Spain  to  take  possession  of  the  inheritance,  for  which  so 
hard  a  fight  was  yet  to  be  maintained,  with  the  striking 
expression  at  parting — "My  child,  there  are  no  longer  any 
Pyrenees!"  an  expression  most  happily  unprophetic  for  the 
future  independence  of  Europe ;  for  the  moral  force  of  the 
barrier  has  long  existed  after  the  expiration  of  the  family 
compact  which  was  meant  to  deprive  it  of  its  force. 

Louis  prepared  to  act  vigorously.  Among  other  meas- 
ures, he  caused  part  of  the  Dutch  army  that  was  quartered 
in  Luxemburg  and  Brabant  to  be  suddenly  made  prisoners 
of  war,  because  they  would  not  own  Philip  V.  as  king  of 
Spain.  The  states-general  were  dreadfully  alarmed,  imme- 
diately made  the  required  acknowledgment,  and  in  conse- 
quence had  their  soldiers  released.  They  quickly  reinforced 
their  garrisons,  purchased  supplies,  solicited  foreign  aid,  and 
prepared  for  the  worst  that  might  happen.  They  wrote  to 
King  William,  professing  the  most  inviolable  attachment 
to  England;  and  he  met  their  application  by  warm  assur- 
ances of  support  and  an  immediate  reinforcement  of  three 
regiments. 

William  followed  up  these  measures  by  the  formation  of 
the  celebrated  treaty  called  the  Grand  Alliance,  by  which 
England,  the  States,  and  the  emperor  covenanted  for  the 
Bupport  of  the  pretensions  of  the  latter  to  the  Spanish  mon- 


818  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

archy.  William  was  preparing,  in  spite  of  his  declining 
health,  to  take  his  usual  lead  in  the  military  operations 
now  decided  on,  and  almost  all  Europe  was  again  looking 
forward  to  his  guidance,  when  he  died  on  the  8th  of  March, 
1701,  leaving  his  great  plans  to  receive  their  execution  from 
still  more  able  adepts  in  the  art  of  war. 

"William's  character  has  been  traced  by  many  hands.  In 
his  capacity  of  king  of  England,  it  is  not  our  province  to 
judge  him  in  this  place.  As  stadtholder  of  Holland,  he 
merits  unqualified  praise.  Like  his  great  ancestor  William 
I.,  whom  he  more  resembled  than  any  other  of  his  race,  he 
saved  the  country  in  a  time  of  such  imminent  peril  that  its 
abandonment  seemed  the  only  resource  left  to  the  inhabi- 
tants, who  preferred  self-exile  to  slavery.  All  his  acts  were 
certainly  merged  in  the  one  overwhelming  object  of  a  great 
ambition — that  noble  quality,  which,  if  coupled  with  the 
love  of  country,  is  the  very  essence  of  true  heroism.  Wil- 
liam was  the  last  of  that  illustrious  line  which  for  a  century 
and  a  half  had  filled  Europe  with  admiration.  He  never 
had  a  child;  and  being  himself  an  only  one,  his  title  as 
Prince  of  Orange  passed  into  another  branch  of  the  family. 
He  left  his  cousin,  Prince  Frison  of  Nassau,  the  stadtholder 
of  Friesland.  his  sole  and  universal  heir,  and  appointed  the 
states-general  his  executors. 

William's  death  filled  Holland  with  mourning  and  alarm. 
The  meeting  of  the  states-general  after  this  sad  intelligence 
was  of  a  most  affecting  description;  but  William,  like  all 
master-minds,  had  left  the  mantle  of  his  inspiration  on 
his  friends  and  followers.  Heinsius,  the  grand  pensionary, 
followed  up  the  views  of  the  lamented  stadtholder  with  con- 
siderable energy,  and  was  answered  by  the  unanimous  exer- 
tions of  the  country.  Strong  assurances  of  support  from 
Queen  Anne,  William's  successor,  still  further  encouraged 
the  republic,  which  now  vigorously  prepared  for  war.  But 
it  did  not  lose  this  occasion  of  recurring  to  the  form  of  gov- 
ernment of  1650.  No  new  stadtholder  was  now  appointed; 
the  supreme  authority  being  vested  in  the  general  assembly 


TO    THE    PEACE    OF    UTRECHT  319 

of  the  states,  and  the  active  direction  of  affairs  confided  to 
the  grand  pensionary.  This  departure  from  the  form  of 
government  which  had  been  on  various  occasions  proved 
to  be  essential  to  the  safety,  although  at  all  times  hazard- 
ous to  the  independence,  of  the  States,  was  not  attended 
with  any  evil  consequences.  The  factions  and  the  anarchy 
which  had  before  been  the  consequence  of  the  course  now 
adopted  were  prevented  by  the  potent  influence  of  national 
fear  lest  the  enemy  might  triumph,  and  crush  the  hopes, 
the  jealousies,  and  the  enmities  of  all  parties  in  one  general 
ruin.  Thus  the  common  danger  awoke  a  common  interest, 
and  the  splendid  successes  of  her  allies  kept  Holland  steady 
in  the  career  of  patriotic  energy  which  had  its  rise  in  the 
dread  of  her  redoubtable  foe. 

The  joy  in  France  at  "William's  death  was  proportionate 
to  the  grief  it  created  in  Holland ;  and  the  arrogant  confi- 
dence of  Louis  seemed  to  know  no  bounds.  "I  will  punish 
these  audacious  merchants,"  said  he,  with  an  air  of  disdain, 
when  he  read  the  manifesto  of  Holland ;  not  foreseeing  that 
those  he  affected  to  despise  so  much  would,  ere  long,  com- 
mand in  a  great  measure  the  destinies  of  his  crown.  Queen 
Anne  entered  upon  the  war  with  masculine  intrepidity,  and 
maintained  it  with  heroic  energy.  Efforts  were  made  by 
the  English  ministry  and  the  states-general  to  mediate  be- 
tween the  kings  of  Sweden  and  Poland.  But  Charles  XII., 
enamored  of  glory,  and  bent  on  the  one  great  object  of  his 
designs  against  Russia,  would  listen  to  nothing  that  might 
lead  him  from  his  immediate  career  of  victory.  Many  other 
of  the  northern  princes  were  withheld,  by  various  motives, 
from  entering  into  the  contest  with  France,  and  its  whole 
brunt  devolved  on  the  original  members  of  the  Grand  Alli- 
ance. The  generals  who  carried  it  on  were  Marlborough 
and  Prince  Eugene.  The  former,  at  its  commencement  an 
earl,  and  subsequently  raised  to  the  dignity  of  duke,  was 
declared  generalissimo  of  the  Dutch  and  English  forces. 
He  was  a  man  of  most  powerful  genius,  both  as  warrior 
and  politician.  A  pupil  of  the  great  Turenne,  his  exploits 


3'20  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

left  those  of  his  master  in  the  shade.  No  commander  ever 
possessed  in  a  greater  degree  the  faculty  of  forming  vast 
designs,  and  of  carrying  them  into  effect  with  consummate 
skill ;  no  one  displayed  more  coolness  and  courage  in  action, 
saw  with  a  keener  eye  the  errors  of  the  enemy,  or  knew 
better  how  to  profit  by  success.  He  never  laid  siege  to  a 
town  that  he  did  not  take,  and  never  fought  a  battle  that 
he  did  not  gain. 

Prince  Eugene  joined  to  the  highest  order  of  personal 
bravery  a  profound  judgment  for  the  grand  movements  of 
war,  and  a  capacity  for  the  most  minute  of  the  minor  de- 
tails on  which  their  successful  issue  so  often  depends. 
United  in  the  same  cause,  these  two  great  generals  pur- 
sued their  course  without  the  least  misunderstanding.  At 
the  close  of  each  of  those  successive  campaigns,  in  which 
they  reaped  such  a  full  harvest  of  renown,  they  retired  to- 
gether to  The  Hague,  to  arrange,  in  the  profoundest  secrecy, 
the  plans  for  the  next  year's  operations,  with  one  other  per- 
son, who  formed  the  great  point  of  union  between  them, 
and  completed  a  triumvirate  without  a  parallel  in  the  his- 
tory of  political  affairs.  This  third  was  Heinsius,  one  of 
those  great  men  produced  by  the  republic  whose  names  are 
tantamount  to  the  most  detailed  eulogium  for  talent  and 
patriotism.  Every  enterprise  projected  by  the  confederates 
was  deliberately  examined,  rejected,  or  approved  by  these 
three  associates,  whose  strict  union  of  purpose,  disowning 
all  petty  rivalry,  formed  the  centre  of  counsels  and  the 
source  of  circumstances  finally  so  fatal  to  France. 

Louis  XIV.,  now  sixty  years  of  age,  could  no  longer 
himself  command  his  armies,  or  probably  did  not  wish  to 
risk  the  reputation  he  was  conscious  of  having  gained  by 
the  advice  and  services  of  Turenne,  Conde,  and  Luxem- 
burg. Louvois,  too,  was  dead ;  and  Colbert  no  longer  man- 
aged his  finances.  A  council  of  rash  and  ignorant  minis- 
ters hung  like  a  dead  weight  on  the  talent  of  the  generals 
who  succeeded  the  great  men  above  mentioned.  Favor  and 
not  merit  too  often  decided  promotion,  and  lavished  com- 


TO  THE  PEACE  OF  UTRECHT          321 

mand.  Vendome,  Villars,  Boufflers,  and  Berwick  were  set 
aside,  to  make  way  for  Villeroi,  Tallard,  and  Marsin,  men 
every  way  inferior. 

The  war  began  in  1702  in  Italy,  and  Maryborough  opened 
his  first  campaign  in  Brabant  also  in  that  year.  For  sev- 
eral succeeding  years  the  confederates  pursued  a  career  of 
brilliant  success,  the  details  of  which  do  not  properly  belong 
to  this  work.  A  mere  chronology  of  celebrated  battles  would 
be  of  little  interest,  and  the  pages  of  English  history  abound 
in  records  of  those  deeds.  Blenheim,  Ramillies,  Oudenarde, 
and  Malplaquet,  are  names  that  speak  for  themselves,  and 
tell  their  own  tale  of  glory.  The  utter  humiliation  of  France 
was  the  result  of  events,  in  which  the  undying  fame  of  Eng- 
land for  inflexible  perseverance  and  unbounded  generosity 
was  joined  in  the  strictest  union  with  thac  of  Holland;  and 
the  impetuous  valor  of  the  worthy  successor  to  the  title  of 
Prince  of  Orange  was,  on  many  occasions,  particularly  at 
Malplaquet,  supported  by  the  devotion  and  gallantry  of  the 
Dutch  contingent  in  the  allied  armies.  The  naval  affairs  of 
Holland  offered  nothing  very  remarkable.  The  states  had 
always  a  fleet  ready  to  support  the  English  in  their  enter- 
prises; but  no  eminent  admiral  arose  to  rival  the  renown 
of  Rooke,  Byng,  Benbow,  and  others  of  their  allies.  The 
first  of  those  admirals  took  Gibraltar,  which  has  ever  since 
remained  in  the  possession  of  England.  The  great  earl  of 
Peterborough  carried  on  the  war  with  splendid  success  in 
Portugal  and  Spain,  supported  occasionally  by  the  English 
fleet  under  Sir  Cloudesley  Shovel,  and  that  of  Holland  un- 
der Admirals  Allemonde  and  Wapenaer. 

During  the  progress  of  the  war,  the  haughty  and  long- 
time imperial  Louis  was  reduced  to  a  state  of  humiliation 
that  excited  a  compassion  so  profound  as  to  prevent  its  own 
open  expression — the  most  galling  of  all  sentiments  to  a 
proud  mind.  In  the  year  1709  he  solicited  peace  on  terms 
of  most  abject  submission.  The  states-general,  under  the 
influence  of  the  duke  of  Marlborough  and  Prince  Eugene, 
rejected  all  his  supplications,  retorting  unsparingly  the 


822  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

insolent  harshness  with  which  he  had  formerly  received 
similar  proposals  from  them.  France,  roused  to  renewed 
exertions  by  the  insulting  treatment  experienced  by  her 
humiliated  but  still  haughty  despot,  made  prodigious  but 
vain  efforts  to  repair  her  ruinous  losses.  In  the  following 
year  Louis  renewed  his  attempts  to  obtain  some  tolerable 
conditions ;  offering  to  renounce  his  grandson,  and  to  com- 
ply with  all  the  former  demands  of  the  confederates.  Even 
these  overtures  were  rejected ;  Holland  and  England  appear- 
ing satisfied  with  nothing  short  of — what  was  after  all  im- 
practicable— the  total  destruction  of  the  great  power  which 
Louis  had  so  long  proved  to  be  incompatible  with  their 
welfare. 

The  war  still  went  on;  and  the  taking  of  Bouchain 
on  the  30th  of  August,  1711,  closed  the  almost  unriv- 
alled military  career  of  Marlborough,  by  the  success  of 
one  of  his  boldest  and  best  conducted  exploits.  Party  in- 
trigue had  .accomplished  what,  in  court  parlance,  is  called 
the  disgrace,  but  which,  in  the  language  of  common  sense, 
means  only  the  dismissal  of  this  great  man.  The  new  min- 
istry, who  hated  the  Dutch,  now  entered  seriously  into  ne- 
gotiations with  France.  The  queen  acceded  to  these  views, 
and  sent  special  envoys  to  communicate  with  the  court  of 
Versailles.  The  states-general  found  it  impossible  to  con- 
tinue hostilities  if  England  withdrew  from  the  coalition; 
conferences  were  consequently  opened  at  Utrecht  in  the 
month  of  January,  1712.  England  took  the  important  sta- 
tion of  arbiter  in  the  great  question  there  debated.  The 
only  essential  conditions  which  she  demanded  individually 
were  the  renunciation  of  all  claims  to  the  crown  of  France 
by  Philip  V.,  and  the  demolition  of  the  harbor  of  Dunkirk. 
The  first  of  these  was  the  more  readily  acceded  to,  as  the 
great  battles  of  Almanza  and  Villaviciosa,  gained  by 
Philip's  generals,  the  dukes  of  Berwick  and  Vendome, 
had  steadily  fixed  him  on  the  throne  of  Spain — a  point 
still  more  firmly  secured  by  the  death  of  the  emperor 
Joseph  I.,  son  of  Leopold,  and  the  elevation  of  h<s  brother 


TO  THE  PEACE  OF  UTRECHT         323 

Charles,  Philip's  competitor  for  the  crown  of  Spain,  to  the 
imperial  dignity,  by  the  title  of  Charles  VI. 

The  peace  was  not  definitively  signed  until  the  llth  of 
April,  1713;  and  France  obtained  far  better  conditions  than 
those  which  were  refused  her  a  few  years  previously.  The 
Belgian  provinces  were  given  to  the  new  emperor,  and  must 
henceforth  be  called  the  Austrian  instead  of  the  Spanish 
Netherlands.  The  gold  and  the  blood  of  Holland  had  been 
profusely  expended  during  this  contest;  it  might  seem  for 
no  positive  results;  but  the  exhaustion  produced  to  every 
one  of  the  other  belligerents  was  a  source  of  peace  and 
prosperity  to  the  republic.  Its  commerce  was  re-estab- 
lished; its  financial  resources  recovered  their  level;  and 
altogether  we  must  fix  on  the  epoch  now  before  us  as  that 
of  its  utmost  point  of  influence  and  greatness.  France,  on 
the  contrary,  was  now  reduced  from  its  palmy  state  of  al- 
most European  sovereignty  to  one  of  the  deepest  misery; 
and  its  monarch,  in  his  old  age,  found  little  left  of  his  for- 
mer power  but  those  records  of  poetry,  painting,  sculpture, 
and  architecture  which  tell  posterity  of  his  magnificence, 
and  the  splendor  of  which  throw  his  faults  and  his  misfort- 
unes into  the  shade. 

The  great  object  now  to  be  accomplished  by  the  United 
Provinces  was  the  regulation  of  a  distinct  and  guaranteed 
line  of  frontier  between  the  republic  and  France.  This  ob- 
ject had  become  by  degrees,  ever  since  the  peace  of  Munster, 
a  fundamental  maxim  of  their  politics.  The  interposition 
of  the  Belgian  provinces  between  the  republic  and  France 
was  of  serious  inconvenience  to  the  former  in  this  point  of 
view.  It  was  made  the  subject  of  a  special  article  in  "the 
grand  alliance."  In  the  year  1707  it  was  particularly  dis- 
cussed between  England  and  the  States,  to  the  great  discon- 
tent of  the  emperor,  who  was  far  from  wishing  its  definitive 
settlement.  But  it  was  now  become  an  indispensable  item 
in  the  total  of  important  measures  whose  accomplishment 
was  called  for  by  the  peace  of  Utrecht.  Conferences  were 
opened  on  this  sole  question  at  Antwerp  in  the  year  1714; 


HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

and,  after  protracted  and  difficult  discussions,  the  treaty  of 
the  Barrier  was  concluded  on  the  15th  of  November,  1715. 
This  treaty  was  looked  on  with  an  evil  eye  in  the  Aus- 
trian Netherlands.  The  clamor  was  great  and  general; 
jealousy  of  the  commercial  prosperity  of  Holland  being  the 
real  motive.  Long  negotiations  took  place  on  the  subject 
of  the  treaty;  and  in  December,  1718,  the  republic  con- 
sented to  modify  some  of  the  articles.  The  Pragmatic 
Sanction,  published  at  Vienna  in  1713  by  Charles  VI., 
regulated  the  succession  to  all  the  imperial  hereditary 
possessions;  and,  among  the  rest,  the  provinces  of  the 
Netherlands.  But  this  arrangement,  though  guaranteed 
by  the  chief  powers  of  Europe,  was,  in  the  sequel,  little 
respected,  and  but  indifferently  executed. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

PROM    THE    PEACE    OF     UTRECHT    TO     THE     INCORPORATION 
OP    BELGIUM    WITH    THE    FRENCH    REPUBLIC 

A.D.    1718—1795 

DURING  a  period  of  thirty  years  following  the  treaty 
of  Utrecht,  the  republic  enjoyed  the  unaccustomed 
blessing  of  profound  peace.  While  the  discontents 
of  the  Austrian  Netherlands  on  the  subject  of  the  treaty 
of  the  Barrier  were  in  debate,  the  quadruple  alliance  was 
formed  between  Holland,  England,  France  and  the  em- 
peror, for  reciprocal  aid  against  all  enemies,  foreign  and 
domestic.  It  was  in  virtue  of  this  treaty  that  the  pre- 
tender to  the  English  throne  received  orders  to  remove 
from  France ;  and  the  states-general  about  the  same  time 
arrested  the  Swedish  ambassador,  Baron  Gortz,  whose  in- 
trigues excited  some  suspicion.  The  death  of  Louis  XIV. 
had  once  more  changed  the  political  system  of  Europe ;  and 
the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  fertile  in 
negotiations  and  alliances  in  which  we  have  at  present  but 
little  direct  interest.  The  rights  of  the  republic  were  in  all 
instances  respected;  and  Holland  did  not  cease  to  be  con- 
sidered as  a  power  of  the  first  distinction  and  consequence. 
The  establishment  of  an  East  India  Company  at  Ostend,  by 
the  emperor  Charles  VI.,  in  1722,  was  the  principal  cause 
of  disquiet  to  the  United  Provinces,  and  the  most  likely  to 
lead  to  a  rupture.  But,  by  the  treaty  of  Hanover  in  1726, 
the  rights  of  Holland  resulting  from  the  treaty  of  Munster 
were  guaranteed;  and  in  consequence  the  emperor  abolished 
the  company  of  his  creation,  by  the  treaty  of  Seville  in  1729, 
and  that  of  Vienna  in  1731. 

The  peace  which  now  reigned  in  Europe  allowed  the 
United  Provinces  to  direct  their  whole  efforts  toward  the 

(325) 


326  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

reform  of  those  internal  abuses  resulting  from  feudality  and 
fanaticism.  Confiscations  were  reversed,  and  property  se- 
cured throughout  the  republic.  It  received  into  its  protec- 
tion the  persecuted  sectarians  of  France,  Germany,  and 
Hungary;  and  the  tolerant  wisdom  which  it  exercised  in 
these  measures  gives  the  best  assurance  of  its  justice  and 
prudence  in  one  of  a  contrary  nature,  forming  a  solitary  ex- 
ception to  them.  This  was  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits,  whose 
dangerous  and  destructive  doctrines  had  been  long  a  warrant 
for  this  salutary  example  to  the  Protestant  states  of  Europe. 

In  the  year  1732  the  United  Provinces  were  threatened 
with  imminent  peril,  which  accident  alone  prevented  from 
becoming  fatal  to  their  very  existence.  It  was  perceived 
that  the  dikes,  which  had  for  ages  preserved  the  coasts, 
were  in  many  places  crumbling  to  ruin,  in  spite  of  the 
enormous  expenditure  of  money  and  labor  devoted  to  their 
preservation.  By  chance  it  was  discovered  that  the  beams, 
piles  and  other  timber  works  employed  in  the  construction 
of  the  dikes  were  eaten  through  in  all  parts  by  a  species  of 
sea-worm  hitherto  unknown.  The  terror  of  the  people  was, 
as  may  be  supposed,  extreme.  Every  possible  resource  was 
applied  which  could  remedy  the  evil;  a  hard  frost  provi- 
dentially set  in  and  destroyed  the  formidable  reptiles;  and 
the  country  was  thus  saved  from  a  danger  tenfold  greater 
than  that  involved  in  a  dozen  wars. 

The  peace  of  Europe  was  once  more  disturbed  in  1733. 
Poland,  Germany,  France,  and  Spain,  were  all  embarked 
in  the  new  war.  Holland  and  England  stood  aloof;  and 
another  family  alliance  of  great  consequence  drew  still  closer 
than  ever  the  bonds  of  union  between  them.  The  young 
Prince  of  Orange,  who  in  1728  had  been  elected  stadtholder 
of  Groningen  and  Guelders,  in  addition  to  that  of  Friesland 
which  had  been  enjoyed  by  his  father,  had  in  the  year  1734 
married  the  princess  Anne,  daughter  of  George  II.  of  Eng- 
land ;  and  by  thus  adding  to  the  consideration  of  the  House 
of  Nassau,  had  opened  a  field  for  the  recovery  of  all  its  old 
distinctions. 


TO  INCORPORATION  OF  BELGIUM  WITH  FRANCE      327 

The  death  of  the  emperor  Charles  VI.,  in  October,  1740, 
left  his  daughter,  the  archduchess  Maria  Theresa,  heiress  of 
his  throne  and  possessions.  Young,  beautiful,  and  endowed 
with  qualities  of  the  highest  order,  she  was  surrounded  with 
enemies  whose  envy  and  ambition  would  have  despoiled  her 
of  her  splendid  rights.  Frederick  of  Prussia,  surnamed  the 
Great,  in  honor  of  his  abilities  rather  than  his  sense  of  jus- 
tice, the  electors  of  Bavaria  and  Saxony,  and  the  kings  of 
Spain  and  Sardinia,  all  pressed  forward  to  the  spoliation 
of  an  inheritance  which  seemed  a  fair  play  for  all  comers. 
But  Maria  Theresa,  first  joining  her  husband,  Duke  Francis 
of  Lorraine,  in  her  sovereignty,  but  without  prejudice  to  it, 
under  the  title  of  co-regent,  took  an  attitude  truly  heroic. 
When  everything  seemed  to  threaten  the  dismemberment 
of  her  states,  she  threw  herself  upon  the  generous  fidelity  of 
her  Hungarian  subjects  with  a  dignified  resolution  that  has 
few  examples.  There  was  imperial  grandeur  even  in  her 
appeal  to  their  compassion.  The  results  were  electrical; 
and  the  whole  tide  of  fortune  was  rapidly  turned. 

England  and  Holland  were  the  first  to  come  to  the  aid 
of  the  young  and  interesting  empress.  George  II.,  at  the 
head  of  his  army,  gained  the  victory  of  Dettingen,  in  sup- 
port of  her  quarrel,  in  1743;  the  states-general  having  con- 
tributed twenty  thousand  men  and  a  large  subsidy  to  her 
aid.  Louis  XV.  resolved  to  throw  his  whole  influence  into 
the  scale  against  these  generous  efforts  in  the  princess's 
favor;  and  he  invaded  the  Austrian  Netherlands  in  the 
following  year.  Marshal  Saxe  commanded  under  him,  and 
at  first  carried  everything  before  him.  Holland,  having 
furnished  twenty  thousand  troops  and  six  ships  of  war  to 
George  II.  on  the  invasion  of  the  young  pretender,  was 
little  in  a  state  to  oppose  any  formidable  resistance  to  the 
enemy  that  threatened  her  own  frontiers.  The  republic, 
wholly  attached  for  so  long  a  period  to  pursuits  of  peace 
and  commerce,  had  no  longer  good  generals  nor  effective 
armies ;  nor  could  it  even  put  a  fleet  of  any  importance  to 
sea.  Yet  with  all  these  disadvantages  it  would  not  yield 


328  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

to  the  threats  nor  the  demands  of  France ;  resolved  to  risk 
a  new  war  rather  than  succumb  to  an  enemy  it  had  once  so 
completely  humbled  and  given  the  law  to. 

Conferences  were  opened  at  Breda,  but  interrupted  al- 
most as  soon  as  commenced.  Hostilities  were  renewed. 
The  memorable  battle  of  Fontenoy  was  offered  and  glori- 
ously fought  by  the  allies ;  accepted  and  splendidly  won  by 
the  French.  Never  did  the  English  and  Dutch  troops  act 
more  nobly  in  concert  than  on  this  remarkable  occasion. 
The  valor  of  the  French  was  not  less  conspicuous;  and  the 
success  of  the  day  was  in  a  great  measure  decided  by  the 
Irish  battalions,  sent,  by  the  lamentable  politics  of  those  and 
much  later  days,  to  swell  the  ranks  and  gain  the  battles  of 
England's  enemies.  Marshal  Saxe  followed  up  his  advan- 
tage the  following  year,  taking  Brussels  and  many  other 
towns.  Almost  the  whole  of  the  Austrian  Netherlands  be- 
ing now  in  the  power  of  Louis  XV.,  and  the  United  Prov- 
inces again  exposed  to  invasion  and  threatened  with  danger, 
they  had  once"  more  recourse  to  the  old  expedient  of  the  ele- 
vation of  the  House  of  Orange,  which  in  times  of  imminent 
peril  seemed  to  present  a  never-failing  palladium.  Zealand 
was  the  first  to  give  the  impulsion ;  the  other  provinces  soon 
followed  the  example;  and  William  IV.  was  proclaimed 
stadtholder  and  captain-general,  amid  the  almost  unanimous 
rejoicings  of  all.  These  dignities  were  soon  after  declared 
hereditary  both  in  the  male  and  female  line  of  succession  of 
the  House  of  Orange  Nassau. 

The  year  1748  saw  the  termination  of  the  brilliant  cam- 
paigns of  Louis  XV.  during  this  bloody  war  of  eight  years' 
continuance.  The  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  definitively 
signed  on  the  18th  of  October,  put  an  end  to  hostilities; 
Maria  Theresa  was  established  in  her  rights  and  power; 
and  Europe  saw  a  fair  balance  of  the  nations,  which  gave 
promise  of  security  and  peace.  But  the  United  Provinces, 
when  scarcely  recovering  from  struggles  which  had  so 
checked  their  prosperity,  were  employed  in  new  and  uni- 
versal grief  and  anxiety  by  the  death  of  their  young  stadt' 


TO  INCORPORATION  OF  BELGIUM  WITH  FRANCE      329 

holder,  which  happened  at  The  Hague,  October  13,  1751. 
He  had  long  been  kept  out  of  the  government,  though  by 
no  means  deficient  in  the  talents  suited  to  his  station.  His 
son,  "William  V.,  aged  but  three  years  and  a  half,  succeeded 
him,  under  the  guardianship  of  his  mother,  Anne  of  Eng- 
land, daughter  of  George  II. ,  a  princess  represented  to  be  of 
a  proud  and  ambitious  temper,  who  immediately  assumed  a 
high  tone  of  authority  in  the  state. 

The  war  of  seven  years,  which  agitated  the  north  of 
Europe,  and  deluged  its  plains  with  blood,  was  almost  the 
only  one  in  which  the  republic  was  able  to  preserve  a  strict 
neutrality  throughout.  But  this  happy  state  of  tranquillity 
was  not,  as  on  former  occasions,  attended  by  that  prodigious 
increase  of  commerce,  and  that  accumulation  of  wealth, 
which  had  so  often  astonished  the  world.  Differing  with 
England  on  the  policy  which  led  the  latter  to  weaken  and 
humiliate  France,  jealousies  sprung  up  between  the  two 
countries,  and  Dutch  commerce  became  the  object  of  the 
most  vexatious  and  injurious  efforts  on  the  part  of  Eng- 
land. Remonstrance  was  vain;  resistance  impossible;  and 
the  decline  of  the  republic  hurried  rapidly  on.  The  Han- 
seatic  towns,  the  American  colonies,  the  northern  states  of 
Europe,  and  France  itself,  all  entered  into  the  rivalry  with 
Holland,  in  which,  however,  England  carried  off  the  most 
important  prizes.  Several  private  and  petty  encounters  took 
place  between  the  vessels  of  England  and  Holland,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  pretensions  of  the  former  to  the  right  of 
search ;  and  had  the  republic  possessed  the  ability  of  former 
periods,  and  the  talents  of  a  Tromp  or  a  De  Ruyter,  a  new 
war  would  no  doubt  have  been  the  result.  But  it  was 
forced  to  submit;  and  a  degrading  but  irritating  tranquil- 
lity was  the  consequence  for  several  years;  the  national 
feelings  receiving  a  salve  for  home-decline  by  some  exten- 
sion of  colonial  settlements  in  the  East,  in  which  the  island 
of  Ceylon  was  included. 

In  the  midst  of  this  inglorious  state  of  things,  and  the 
domestic  abundance  which  was  the  only  compensation  for 


330  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

the  gradual  loss  of  national  influence,  the  installation  of  Wil- 
liam V.,  in  1766;  his  marriage  with  the  princess  of  Prussia, 
niece  of  Frederick  the  Great,  in  1768 ;  and  the  birth  of  two 
sons,  the  eldest  on  the  24th  of  August,  1772;  successively 
took  place.  Magnificent  fetes  celebrated  these  events;  the 
satisfied  citizens  little  imagining,  amid  their  indolent  rejoic- 
ings, the  dismal  futurity  of  revolution  and  distress  which 
was  silently  but  rapidly  preparing  for  their  country. 

Maria  Theresa,  reduced  to  widowhood  by  the  death  of 
her  husband,  whom  she  had  elevated  to  the  imperial  dignity 
by  the  title  of  Francis  I.,  continued  for  a  while  to  rule 
singly  her  vast  possessions;  and  had  profited  so  little  by 
the  sufferings  of  her  own  early  reign  that  she  joined  in 
the  iniquitous  dismemberment  of  Poland,  which  has  left 
an  indelible  stain  on  her  memory,  and  on  that  of  Frederick 
of  Prussia  and  Catherine  of  Russia.  In  her  own  dominions 
she  was  adored ;  and  her  name  is  to  this  day  cherished  in 
Belgium  among  the  dearest  recollections  of  the  people. 

The  impulsion  given  to  the  political  mind  of  Europe  by 
the  revolution  in  North  America  was  soon  felt  in  the  Neth- 
erlands, The  wish  for  reform  was  not  merely  confirmed  to 
the  people.  A  memorable  instance  was  offered  by  Joseph 
II.,  son  and  successor  of  Maria  Theresa,  that  sovereigns 
were  not  only  susceptible  of  rational  notions  of  change,  but 
that  the  infection  of  radical  extravagance  could  penetrate 
even  to  the  imperial  crown.  Disgusted  by  the  despotism 
exercised  by  the  clergy  of  Belgium,  Joseph  commenced  his 
reign  by  measures  that  at  once  roused  a  desperate  spirit  of 
hostility  in  the  priesthood,  and  soon  spread  among  the  big- 
oted mass  of  the  people,  who  were  wholly  subservient  to 
their  will.  Miscalculating  his  own  power,  and  undervalu- 
ing that  of  the  priests,  the  emperor  issued  decrees  and  edicts 
with  a  sweeping  violence  that  shocked  every  prejudice  and 
roused  every  passion  perilous  to  the  country.  Toleration  to 
the  Protestants,  emancipation  of  the  clergy  from  the  papal 
yoke,  reformation  in  the  system  of  theological  instruction, 
were  among  the  wholesale  measures  of  the  emperor's  en- 


TO  INCORPORATION  OF  BELGIUM  WITH  FRANCE      331 

thusiasm,    so    imprudently    attempted    and    so    virulently 
opposed. 

But  ere  the  deep-sown  seeds  of  bigotry  ripened  to  revolt, 
or  produced  the  fruit  of  active  resistance  in  Belgium,  Hol- 
land had  to  endure  the  mortification  of  another  war  with 
England.  The  republic  resolved  on  a  futile  imitation  of 
the  northern  powers,  who  had  adopted  the  difficult  and 
anomalous  system  of  an  armed  neutrality,  for  the  preven- 
tion of  English  domination  on  the  seas.  The  right  of 
search,  so  proudly  established  by  this  power,  was  not 
likely  to  be  wrenched  from  it  by  manifestoes  or  remon- 
strances ;  and  Holland  was  not  capable  of  a  more  effectual 
warfare.  In  the  year  1781,  St.  Eustache,  Surinam,  Esse- 
quibo,  and  Demerara,  were  taken  by  British  valor;  and  in 
the  following  year  several  of  the  Dutch  colonies  in  the  East, 
well  fortified  but  ill  defended,  also  fell  into  the  hands  of 
England.  Almost  the  whole  of  those  colonies,  the  remnants 
of  prodigious  power  acquired  by  such  incalculable  instances 
of  enterprise  and  courage,  were  one  by  one  assailed  and 
taken.  But  this  did  not  suffice  for  the  satisfaction  of  En- 
glish objects  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war.  It  was  also 
resolved  to  deprive  Holland  of  the  Baltic  trade.  A  squad- 
ron of  seven  vessels,  commanded  by  Sir  Hyde  Parker,  was 
encountered  on  the  Dogher  Bank  by  a  squadron  of  Dutch 
ships  of  the  same  force  under  Admiral  Zoutman.  An  action 
of  four  hours  was  maintained  with  all  the  ancient  courage 
which  made  so  many  of  the  memorable  sea-fights  between 
Tromp,  De  Ruyter,  Blake,  and  Monk  drawn  battles.  A 
storm  separated  the  combatants,  and  saved  the  honor  of 
each ;  for  both  had  suffered  alike,  and  victory  had  belonged 
to  neither.  The  peace  of  1784  terminated  this  short,  but, 
to  Holland,  fatal  war;  the  two  latter  years  of  which  had 
been,  in  the  petty  warfare  of  privateering,  most  disastrous 
to  the  commerce  of  the  republic.  Negapatam,  on  the  coast 
of  Coromandel,  and  the  free  navigation  of  the  Indian  seas, 
were  ceded  to  England,  who  occupied  the  other  various 
colonies  taken  during  the  war. 


332  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

Opinion  was  now  rapidly  opening  out  to  that  spirit  of 
intense  inquiry  which  arose  in  France,  and  threatened  to 
sweep  before  it  not  only  all  that  was  corrupt,  but  every- 
thing that  tended  to  corruption.  It  is  in  the  very  essence 
of  all  kinds  of  power  to  have  that  tendency,  and,  if  not 
checked  by  salutary  means,  to  reach  that  end.  But  the 
reformers  of  the  last  century,  new  in  the  desperate  practice 
of  revolutions,  seeing  its  necessity,  but  ignorant  of  its  nat- 
ure, neither  did  nor  could  place  bounds  to  the  careering 
whirlwind  that  they  raised.  The  well-meaning  but  intem- 
perate changes  essayed  by  Joseph  II.  in  Belgium  had  a 
considerable  share  in  the  development  of  free  principles, 
although  they  at  first  seemed  only  to  excite  the  resistance 
of  bigotry  and  strengthen  the  growth  of  superstition.  Hol- 
land was  always  alive  to  those  feelings  of  resistance  to 
established  authority  which  characterize  republican  opin- 
ions; and  the  general  discontent  at  the  result  of  the  war 
with  England  gave  a  good  excuse  to  the  pretended  patriot- 
ism which  only  wanted  change,  while  it  professed  reform. 
The  stadtholder  saw  clearly  the  storm  which  was  gathering, 
and  which  menaced  his  power.  Anxious  for  the  present, 
and  uncertain  for  the  future,  he  listened  to  the  suggestions 
of  England,  and  resolved  to  secure  and  extend  by  foreign 
force  the  rights  of  which  he  risked  the  loss  from  domestic 
faction. 

In  the  divisions  which  were  now  loudly  proclaimed 
among  the  states  in  favor  of  or  opposed  to  the  House  of 
Orange,  the  people,  despising  all  new  theories  which  they 
did  not  comprehend,  took  open  part  with  the  family  so 
closely  connected  with  every  practical  feeling  of  good  which 
their  country  had  yet  known.  The  states  of  Holland  soon 
proceeded  to  measures  of  violence.  Resolved  to  limit  the 
power  of  the  stadtholder,  they  deprived  him  of  the  com- 
mand of  the  garrison  of  The  Hague,  and  of  all  the  other 
troops  of  the  province;  and,  shortly  afterward,  declared 
him  removed  from  all  his  employments.  The  violent  dis- 
putes and  vehement  discussions  consequent  upon  this 


TO  INCORPORATION  OF  BELGIUM  WITH  FRANCE      333 

ure  throughout  the  republic  announced  an  inevitable  com- 
motion. The  advance  of  a  Prussian  army  toward  the 
frontiers  inflamed  the  passions  of  one  party  and  strength- 
ened the  confidence  of  the  other.  An  incident  which  now 
happened  brought  about  the  crisis  even  sooner  than  was 
expected.  The  Princess  of  Orange  left  her  palace  at  Loo 
to  repair  to  The  Hague;  and  travelling  with  great  sim- 
plicity and  slightly  attended,  she  was  arrested  and  detained 
by  a  military  post  on  the  frontiers  of  the  province  of  Hol- 
land. The  neighboring  magistrates  of  the  town  of  Woes- 
den  refused  her  permission  to  continue  her  journey,  and 
forced  her  to  return  to  Loo  under  such  surveillance  as  was 
usual  with  a  prisoner  of  state.  The  stadtholder  and  the  En- 
glish ambassador  loudly  complained  of  this  outrage.  The 
complaint  was  answered  by  the  immediate  advance  of  the 
duke  of  Brunswick  with  twenty  thousand  Prussian  soldiers. 
Some  demonstrations  of  resistance  were  made  by  the  aston- 
ished party  whose  outrageous  conduct  had  provoked  the 
measure ;  but  in  three  weeks'  time  the  whole  of  the  republic 
was  in  perfect  obedience  to  the  authority  of  the  stadtholder, 
who  resumed  all  his  functions  of  chief  magistrate,  with  the 
additional  influence  which  was  sure  to  result  from  a  vain 
and  unjustifiable  attempt  to  reduce  his  former  power.  "We 
regret  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  Mr.  Ellis's  interesting  but 
unpublished  work,  detailing  the  particulars  of  this  revolu- 
tion. The  former  persual  of  a  copy  of  it  only  leaves  a  rec- 
ollection of  its  admirable  style  and  the  leading  facts,  but 
not  of  the  details  with  sufficient  accuracy  to  justify  more 
than  a  general  reference  to  the  work  itself. 

By  this  time  the  discontent  and  agitation  in  Belgium  had 
attained  a  most  formidable  height.  The  attempted  reforma- 
tion in  religion  and  judicial  abuses  persisted  in  by  the  em- 
peror were  represented,  by  a  party  whose  existence  was 
compromised  by  reform,  as  nothing  less  than  sacrilege  and 
tyranny,  and  blindly  rejected  by  a  people  still  totally  un- 
fitted for  rational  enlightenment  in  points  of  faith,  or  prac- 
tices of  civilization.  Remonstrances  and  strong  complaints 


334  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

were  soon  succeeded  by  tumultuous  assemblages  and  open 
insurrection.  A  lawyer  of  Brussels,  named  Vander  Noot, 
put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  malcontents.  The  states- 
general  of  Brabant  declared  the  new  measures  of  the  em- 
peror to  be  in  opposition  to  the  constitution  and  privileges 
of  the  country.  The  other  Belgian  provinces  soon  followed 
this  example.  The  prince  Albert  of  Saxe-Teschen,  and  the 
archduchess  Maria  Theresa,  his  wife,  were  at  this  period 
joint  governors-general  of  the  Austrian  Netherlands.  At 
the  burst  of  rebellion  they  attempted  to  temporize ;  but  this 
only  strengthened  the  revolutionary  party,  while  the  em- 
peror wholly  disapproved  their  measures  and  recalled  them 
to  Vienna. 

Count  Murray  was  now  named  governor-general;  and 
it  was  evident  that  the  future  fate  of  the  provinces  was  to 
depend  on  the  issue  of  civil  war.  Count  Trautmansdorff, 
the  imperial  minister  at  Brussels,  and  General  D' Alton, 
who  commanded  the  Austrian  troops,  took  a  high  tone, 
and  evinced  a  peremptory  resolution.  The  soldiery  and 
the  citizens  soon  came  into  contact  on  many  points;  and 
blood  was  spilled  at  Brussels,  Mechlin,  and  Antwerp. 

The  provincial  states  were  convoked,  for  the  purpose  of 
voting  the  usual  subsidies.  Brabant,  after  some  opposition, 
consented ;  but  the  states  of  Hainault  unanimously  refused 
the  vote.  The  emperor  saw,  or  supposed,  that  the  necessity 
for  decisive  measures  was  now  inevitable.  The  refractory 
states  were  dissolved,  and  arrests  and  imprisonments  were 
multiplied  in  all  quarters.  Vander  Noot,  who  had  escaped 
to  England,  soon  returned  to  the  Netherlands,  and  estab- 
lished a  committee  at  Breda,  which  conferred  on  him  the 
imposing  title  of  agent  plenipotentiary  of  the  people  of 
Brabant.  He  hoped,  under  this  authority,  to  interest  the 
English,  Prussian,  and  Dutch  governments  in  favor  of  his 
views;  but  his  proposals  were  coldly  received:  Protestant 
states  had  little  sympathy  for  a  people  whose  resistance 
was  excited,  not  by  tyrannical  efforts  against  freedom,  but 
by  broad  measures  of  civil  and  religious  reformation;  the 


TO  INCORPORATION  OF  BELGIUM  WITH  FRANCE      335 

only  fault   of  which   was  their  attempted    application  to 
minds  wholly  incompetent  to  comprehend  their  value. 

Left  to  themselves,  the  Belgians  soon  gave  a  display  of 
that  energetic  valor  which  is  natural  to  them,  and  which 
would  be  entitled  to  still  greater  admiration  had  it  been 
evinced  in  a  worthier  cause.  During  the  fermentation 
which  led  to  a  general  rising  in  the  provinces,  on  the  im- 
pulse of  fanatic  zeal,  the  truly  enlightened  portion  of  the 
people  conceived  the  project  of  raising,  on  the  ruins  of 
monkish  superstition  and  aristocratical  power,  an  edifice 
of  constitutional  freedom.  Vonck,  also  an  advocate  of 
Brussels,  took  the  lead  in  this  splendid  design ;  and  he  and 
his  friends  proved  themselves  to  have  reached  the  level  of 
that  true  enlightenment  which  distinguished  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  But  the  Vonckists,  as  they  were  called, 
formed  but  a  small  minority  compared  with  the  besotted 
mass;  and,  overwhelmed  by  fanaticism  on  the  one  hand, 
and  despotism  on  the  other,  they  were  unable  to  act  effect- 
ually for  tin  public  good.  Vander  Mersch,  a  soldier  of  fort- 
une, and  a  man  of  considerable  talents,  who  had  raised  him- 
self from  the  ranks  to  the  command  of  a  regiment,  and  had 
been  formed  in  the  school  of  the  seven  years'  war,  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  command  of  the  patriot  forces.  Joseph  II. 
was  declared  to  have  forfeited  his  sovereignty  in  Brabant; 
and  hostilities  soon  commenced  by  a  regular  advance  of  the 
insurgent  army  upon  that  province.  Vander  Mersch  dis- 
played consummate  ability  in  this  crisis,  where  so  much 
depended  upon  the  prudence  of  the  military  chief.  He 
made  no  rash  attempt,  to  which  commanders  are  some- 
times induced  by  reliance  upon  the  enthusiasm  of  a  newly 
revolted  people.  He,  however,  took  the  earliest  safe  oppor- 
tunity of  coming  to  blows  with  the  enemy;  and,  having 
cleverly  induced  the  Austrians  to  follow  him  into  the  very 
streets  of  the  town  of  Turnhout,  he  there  entered  on  a 
bloody  contest,  and  finally  defeated  the  imperialists  with 
considerable  loss.  He  next  manoeuvred  with  great  ability, 
and  succeeded  in  making  his  way  into  the  province  of  Flan- 


HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

ders,  took  Ghent  by  assault,  and  soon  reduced  Bruges, 
Ypres,  and  Ostend.  At  the  news  of  these  successes,  the 
governors-general  quitted  Brussels  in  all  haste.  The  states 
of  Flanders  assembled,  in  junction  with  those  of  Brabant. 
Both  provinces  were  freed  from  the  presence  of  the  Aus- 
trian troops.  Vander  Noot  and  the  committee  of  Breda 
made  an  entrance  into  Brussels  with  all  the  pomp  of  roy- 
alty; and  in  the  early  part  of  the  following  year  (1790)  a 
treaty  of  union  was  signed  by  the  seven  revolted  provinces, 
now  formed  into  a  confederation  under  the  name  of  the 
United  Belgian  States. 

All  the  hopes  arising  from  these  brilliant  events  were 
soon,  however,  to  be  blighted  by  the  scorching  heats  of 
faction.  Joseph  II.,  whose  temperament  appears  to  have 
been  too  sensitive  to  support  the  shock  of  disappointment 
in  plans  which  sprung  from  the  purest  motives,  saw,  in 
addition  to  this  successful  insurrection  against  his  power, 
his  beloved  sister,  the  queen  of  France,  menaced  with  the 
horrors  of  an  inevitable  revolution.  His  over-sanguine 
expectations  of  successfully  rivalling  the  glory  of  Fred- 
erick and  Catherine,  and  the  ill  success  of  his  war  against 
the  Turks,  all  tended  to  break  down  his  enthusiastic  spirit, 
which  only  wanted  the  elastic  resistance  of  fortitude  to  have 
made  him  a  great  character.  He  for  some  time  sunk  into 
a  profound  melancholy ;  and  expired  on  the  20th  of  Janu- 
ary, 1791,  accusing  his  Belgian  subjects  of  having  caused 
his  premature  death. 

Leopold,  the  successor  of  his  brother,  displayed  much 
sagacity  and  moderation  in  the  measures  which  he  adopted 
for  the  recovery  of  the  revolted  provinces ;  but  their  internal 
disunion  was  the  best  ally  of  the  new  emperor.  The  violent 
party  which  now  ruled  at  Brussels  had  ungratefully  forgot- 
ten the  eminent  services  of  Vander  Mersch,  and  accused 
him  of  treachery,  merely  from  his  attachment  to  the  noble 
views  and  principles  of  the  widely- increasing  party  of  the 
Vonckists.  Induced  by  the  hope  of  reconciling  the  oppos- 
ing parties,  he  left  his  army  in  Namur,  and  imprudently 


ventured  into  the  power  of  General  Schoenfeld,  who  com- 
manded the  troops  of  the  states.  Vander  Mersch  was  in- 
stantly arrested  and  thrown  into  prison,  where  he  lingered 
for  months,  until  set  free  by  the  overthrow  of  the  faction 
he  had  raised  to  power;  but  he  did  not  recover  his  liberty 
to  witness  the  realization  of  his  hopes  for  that  of  his  coun- 
try. The  states-general,  in  their  triumph  over  all  that  was 
truly  patriotic,  occupied  themselves  solely  in  contemptible 
labors  to  establish  the  monkish  absurdities  which  Joseph 
had  suppressed.  The  overtures  of  the  new  emperor  were 
rejected  with  scorn;  and,  as  might  be  expected  from  this 
combination  of  bigotry  and  rashness,  the  imperial  troops 
under  General  Bender  marched  quietly  to  the  conquest  of 
the  whole  country;  town  after  town  opening  their  gates, 
while  Vander  Noot  and  his  partisans  betook  themselves  to 
rapid  and  disgraceful  flight.  On  the  10th  of  December, 
1791,  the  ministers  of  the  emperor  concluded  a  convention 
with  those  of  England,  Russia,  and  Holland  (which  powers 
guarantead  its  execution),  by  which  Leopold  granted  an 
amnesty  for  all  past  offences,  and  confirmed  to  all  his  re- 
covered provinces  their  ancient  constitution  and  privileges; 
and,  thus  returning  under  the  domination  of  Austria,  Bel- 
gium saw  its  best  chance  for  successfully  following  the 
noble  example  of  the  United  Provinces  paralyzed  by  the 
short-sighted  bigotry  which  deprived  the  national  courage 
of  all  moral  force. 

Leopold  enjoyed  but  a  short  time  the  fruits  of  his  well- 
measured  indulgence:  he  died,  almost  suddenly,  March  1, 
1792;  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Francis  II.,  whose  fate 
it  was  to  see  those  provinces  of  Belgium,  which  had  cost 
his  ancestors  so  many  struggles  to  maintain,  wrested  for- 
ever from  the  imperial  power.  Belgium  presented  at  this 
period  an  aspect  of  paramount  interest  to  the  world;  less 
owing  to  its  intrinsic  importance  than  to  its  becoming  at 
once  the  point  of  contest  between  the  contending  powers, 
and  the  theatre  of  the  terrible  struggle  between  republican 

France  and  the   monarchs  she   braved   and   battled  with. 

Holland. — 15 


338  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

The  whole  combinations  of  European  policy  were  staked 
on  the  question  of  the  French  possession  of  this  country. 

This  war  between  France  and  Austria  began  its  earliest 
operations  on  the  very  first  days  after  the  accession  of 
Francis  II.  The  victory  of  Jemappes,  gained  by  Du- 
mouriez,  was  the  first  great  event  of  the  campaign.  The 
Austrians  were  on  all  sides  driven  out.  Dumouriez  made 
his  triumphal  entry  into  Brussels  on  the  13th  of  November; 
and  immediately  after  the  occupation  of  this  town  the  whole 
of  Flanders,  Brabant,  and  Hainault,  with  the  other  Belgian 
provinces,  were  subjected  to  France.  Soon  afterward  sev- 
eral pretended  deputies  from  the  Belgian  people  hastened  to 
Paris,  and  implored  the  convention  to  grant  them  a  share 
of  that  liberty  and  equality  which  was  to  confer  such  in- 
estimable blessings  on  France.  Various  decrees  were  issued 
in  consequence;  and  after  the  mockery  of  a  public  choice, 
hurried  on  in  several  of  the  towns  by  hired  Jacobins  and 
well-paid  patriots,  the  incorporation  of  the  Austrian  Neth- 
erlands with  the  French  republic  was  formally  pronounced. 

The  next  campaign  destroyed  this  whole  fabric  of  revo- 
lution. Dumouriez,  beaten  at  Nerwinde  by  the  prince  of 
Saxe-Coburg,  abandoned  not  only  his  last  year's  conquest, 
but  fled  from  his  own  army  to  pass  the  remainder  of  his  life 
on  a  foreign  soil,  and  leave  his  reputation  a  doubtful  legacy 
to  history.  Belgium,  once  again  in  the  possession  of  Aus- 
tria, was  placed  under  the  government  of  the  archduke 
Charles,  the  emperor's  brother,  who  was  destined  to  a  very 
brief  continuance  in  this  precarious  authority. 

During  this  and  the  succeeding  year  the  war  was  con- 
tinued with  unbroken  perseverance  and  a  constant  fluctua- 
tion in  its  results.  In  the  various  battles  which  were  fought, 
and  the  sieges  which  took  place,  the  English  army  was,  as 
usual,  in  the  foremost  ranks,  under  the  Duke  of  York,  sec- 
ond son  of  George  III.  The  Prince  of  Orange,  at  the  head 
of  the  Dutch  troops,  proved  his  inheritance  of  the  valor 
which  seems  inseparable  from  the  name  of  Nassau.  The 
archduke  Charles  laid  the  foundation  of  his  subsequent  high 


TO  INCORPORATION  OF  BELGIUM  WITH  FRANCE      339 

reputation.  The  emperor  Francis  himself  fought  valiantly 
at  the  head  of  his  troops.  But  all  the  coalesced  courage  of 
these  princes  and  their  armies  could  not  effectually  stop  the 
progress  of  the  republican  arms.  The  battle  of  Fleurus  ren- 
dered the  French  completely  masters  of  Belgium;  and  the 
representatives  of  the  city  of  Brussels  once  more  repaired  to 
the  national  convention  of  France,  to  solicit  the  reincorpo- 
ration  of  the  two  countries.  This  was  not,  however,  finally 
pronounced  till  the  1st  of  October,  1795,  by  which  time  the 
violence  of  an  arbitrary  government  had  given  the  people  a 
sample  of  what  they  were  to  expect.  The  Austrian  Nether- 
lands and  the  province  of  Liege  were  divided  into  nine  de- 
partments, forming  an  integral  part  of  the  French  republic; 
and  this  new  state  of  things  was  consolidated  by  the  pre- 
liminaries of  peace,  signed  at  Leoben  in  Styria,  between  the 
French  general  Bonaparte  and  the  archduke  Charles,  and 
confirmed  by  the  treaty  of  Campo-Formio  on  the  17th  of 
October,  1797. 


CHAPTER    XXII 

FEOM   THE   INVASION   OF  HOLLAND    BY   THE  FRENCH  TO  THE 
RETURN   OF    THE    PRINCE    OF    ORANGE 

A.D.  1794—1813 

WHILE  the  fate  of  Belgium  was  decided  on  the 
plains  of  Fleurus,  Pichegru  prepared  to  carry 
the  triumphant  arms  of  France  into  the  heart 
of  Holland.  He  crossed  the  Meuse  at  the  head  of  one 
hundred  thousand  men,  and  soon  gained  possession  of  most 
of  the  chief  places  of  Flanders.  An  unusually  severe  win- 
ter was  setting  in;  but  a  circumstance  which  in  common 
cases  retards  the  operations  of  war  was,  in  the  present  in- 
stance, the  means  of  hurrying  on  the  conquest  on  which 
the  French  general  was  bent.  The  arms  of  the  sea,  which 
had  hitherto  been  the  best  defences  of  Holland,  now  became 
solid  masses  of  ice;  battlefields,  on  which  the  soldiers  ma- 
noeuvred and  the  artillery  thundered,  as  if  the  laws  of  the 
elements  were  repealed  to  hasten  the  fall  of  the  once  proud 
and  long  flourishing  republic.  Nothing  could  arrest  the 
ambitious  ardor  of  the  invaders.  The  Duke  of  York  and 
his  brave  army  resisted  to  the  utmost ;  but,  borne  down  by 
numbers,  he  was  driven  from  position  to  position.  Bat- 
teries, cannons,  and  magazines  were  successfully  taken; 
and  Pichegru  was  soon  at  the  term  of  his  brilliant  exploits. 
But  Holland  speedily  ceased  to  be  a  scene  of  warfare. 
The  discontented  portion  of  the  citizens,  now  the  majority, 
rejoiced  to  retaliate  the  revolution  of  1787  by  another,  re- 
ceived the  French  as  liberators.  Reduced  to  extremity,  yet 
Btill  capable  by  the  aid  of  his  allies  of  making  a  long  and 
desperate  resistance,  the  stadtholder  took  the  nobler  resolu- 
(340) 


TO  THE  RETURN  OF  THE  PRINCE  OF  ORANGE   341 

tion  of  saving  his  fellow-citizens  from  the  horrors  of  pro- 
longed warfare.  He  repaired  to  The  Hague;  presented 
himself  in  the  assembly  of  the  states-general;  and  sol- 
emnly deposited  in  their  hands  the  exercise  of  the  su- 
preme power,  which  he  found  he  could  no  longer  wield 
but  to  entail  misery  and  ruin  on  his  conquered  country. 
After  this  splendid  instance  of  true  patriotism  and  rare  vir- 
tue, he  quitted  Holland  and  took  refuge  in  England.  The 
states-general  dissolved  a  national  assembly  installed  at 
The  Hague;  and,  the  stadtholderate  abolished,  the  United 
Provinces  now  changed  their  form  of  government,  their 
long-cherished  institutions,  and  their  very  name,  and  were 
christened  the  Batavian  Republic. 

Assurances  of  the  most  flattering  nature  were  profusely 
showered  on  the  new  state,  by  the  sister  republic  which  had 
effected  this  new  revolution.  But  the  first  measure  of  re- 
generation was  the  necessity  of  paying  for  the  recovered 
independence,  which  was  effected  for  the  sum  of  one  hun- 
dred million  florins.  The  new  constitution  was  almost  en- 
tirely modelled  on  that  of  France,  and  the  promised  inde- 
pendence soon  became  a  state  of  deplorable  suffering  and 
virtual  slavery.  Incalculable  evils  were  the  portion  of  Hol- 
land in  the  part  which  she  was  forced  to  take  in  the  war  be- 
tween France  and  England.  Her  marine  was  nearly  anni- 
hilated, and  some  of  her  most  valuable  possessions  in  the 
Indies  ravished  from  her  by  the  British  arms.  She  was  at 
the  same  time  obliged  to  cede  to  her  ally  the  whole  of  Dutch 
Flanders,  Maestricht,  Venloo,  and  their  dependencies;  and 
to  render  free  and  common  to  both  nations  the  navigation 
of  the  Rhine,  the  Meuse,  and  the  Scheldt. 

The  internal  situation  of  the  unfortunate  republic  was 
deplorable.  Under  the  weight  of  an  enormous  and  daily 
increasing  debt,  all  the  resources  of  trade  and  industry  were 
paralyzed.  Universal  misery  took  place  of  opulence,  and 
not  even  the  consolation  of  a  free  constitution  remained  to 
the  people.  They  vainly  sought  that  blessing  from  each 
new  government  of  the  country  whose  destinies  they  fol- 


342  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

lowed,  but  whose  advantages  they  did  not  share.  They 
saw  themselves  successively  governed  by  the  states-general, 
a  national  assembly,  and  the  directory.  But  these  ephem- 
eral authorities  had  not  sufficient  weight  to  give  the  na- 
tion domestic  happiness,  nor  consideration  among  the  other 
powers. 

On  the  llth  of  October,  1797,  the  English  admiral,  Sir 
Adam  Duncan,  with  a  superior  force,  encountered  the  Dutch 
fleet  under  De  Winter  off  Camperdown ;  and  in  spite  of  the 
^bravery  of  the  latter  he  was  taken  prisoner,  with  nine  ships 
of  the  line  and  a  frigate.  An  expedition  on  an  extensive 
seal0  was  soon  after  fitted  out  in  England,  to  co-operate 
with  a  Russian  force  for  the  establishment  of  the  House 
of  Orange.  The  Holder  was  the  destination  of  this  arma- 
ment, which  was  commanded  by  Sir  Ralph  Abercrombie. 
The  Duke  of  York  soon  arrived  in  the  Texel  with  a  consid- 
erable reinforcement.  A  series  of  severe  and  well-contested 
actions  near  Bergen  ended  in  the  defeat  of  the  allies  and 
the  abandonment  of  the  enterprise;  the  only  success  of 
which  was  the  capture  of  the  remains  of  the  Dutch  fleet, 
which  was  safely  conveyed  to  England. 

From  this  period  the  weight  of  French  oppression  be- 
came every  day  more  intolerable  in  Holland.  Ministers, 
generals,  and  every  other  species  of  functionary,  with 
swarms  of  minor  tyrants,  while  treating  the  country  as 
a  conquered  province,  deprived  it  of  all  share  in  the  bril- 
liant though  checkered  glories  gained  by  that  to  which  it 
was  subservient.  The  Dutch  were  robbed  of  national  inde- 
pendence and  personal  freedom.  While  the  words  "liberty" 
and  "equality"  were  everywhere  emblazoned,  the  French 
ambassador  assumed  an  almost  Oriental  despotism.  The 
language  and  forms  of  a  free  government  were  used  only 
to  sanction  a  foreign  tyranny;  and  the  Batavian  republic, 
reduced  to  the  most  hopeless  and  degraded  state,  was  in 
fact  but  a  forced  appendage  chained  to  the  triumphal  car 
of  France. 

Napoleon  Bonaparte,  creating  by  the  force  of  his  prodig- 


ious  talents  the  circumstances  of  which  inferior  minds  are 
but  the  creatures,  now  rapidly  rose  to  the  topmost  height  of 
power.  He  not  only  towered  above  the  mass  of  prejudices 
which  long  custom  had  legalized,  but  spurned  the  multi- 
tude by  whom  these  prejudices  had  been  overthrown.  Yet 
he  was  not  of  the  first  order  of  great  minds ;  for  he  wanted 
that  grand  principle  of  self-control  which  is  the  supreme 
attribute  of  greatness.  Potent,  and  almost  irresistible  in 
every  conflict  with  others,  and  only  to  be  vanquished  by 
his  own  acts,  he  possessed  many  of  the  higher  qualities  of 
genius.  He  was  rapid,  resolute,  and  daring,  filled  with  con- 
tempt for  the  littleness  of  mankind,  yet  molding  every  atom 
which  composed  that  littleness  to  purposes  at  utter  variance 
with  its  nature.  In  defiance  of  the  first  essence  of  republi- 
can theory,  he  built  himself  an  imperial  throne  on  the 
crushed  privileges  of  a  prostrate  people;  and  he  lavished 
titles  and  dignities  on  men  raised  from  its  very  dregs,  with 
a  profusion  which  made  nobility  a  byword  of  scorn.  King- 
doms were  created  for  his  brothers  and  his  friends;  and  the 
Batavian  republic  was  made  a  monarchy,  to  give  Louis  a 
dignity,  or  at  least  a  title,  like  the  rest. 

The  character  of  Louis  Bonaparte  was  gentle  and  amia- 
ble, his  manners  easy  and  affable.  He  entered  on  his  new 
rank  with  the  best  intentions  toward  the  country  which  he 
was  sent  to  reign  over ;  and  though  he  felt  acutely  when  the 
people  refused  him  marks  of  respect  and  applause,  which 
was  frequently  the  case,  his  temper  was  not  soured,  and  he 
conceived  no  resentment.  He  endeavored  to  merit  popu- 
larity; and  though  his  power  was  scanty,  his  efforts  were 
not  wholly  unsuccessful.  He  labored  to  revive  the  ruined 
trade,  which  he  knew  to  be  the  staple  of  Dutch  prosperity : 
but  the  measures  springing  from  this  praiseworthy  motive 
were  totally  opposed  to  the  policy  of  Napoleon ;  and  in  pro- 
portion as  Louis  made  friends  and  partisans  among  his  sub- 
jects, he  excited  bitter  enmity  in  his  imperial  brother.  Louis 
was  so  averse  from  the  continental  system,  or  exclusion  of 
British  manufactures,  that  during  his  short  reign  every  fa- 


344  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

cility  was  given  to  his  subjects  to  elude  it,  even  in  defiance 
of  the  orders  conveyed  to  him  from  Paris  through  the  me- 
dium of  the  French  ambassador  at  The  Hague.  He  im- 
posed no  restraints  on  public  opinion,  nor  would  he  estab- 
lish the  odious  system  of  espionage  cherished  by  the  French 
police;  but  he  was  fickle  in  his  purposes,  and  prodigal  in 
his  expenses.  The  profuseness  of  his  expenditure  was  very 
offensive  to  the  Dutch  notions  of  respectability  hi  matters 
of  private  finance,  and  injurious  to  the  existing  state  of  the 
public  means.  The  tyranny  of  Napoleon  became  soon  quite 
insupportable  to  him;  so  much  so,  that  it  is  believed  that 
had  the  ill-fated  English  expedition  to  Walcheren  in  1809 
succeeded,  and  the  army  advanced  into  the  country,  he 
would  have  declared  war  against  France.  After  an  inef- 
fectual struggle  of  more  than  three  years,  he  chose  rather 
to  abdicate  his  throne  than  retain  it  under  the  degrading 
conditions  of  proconsulate  subserviency.  This  measure  ex- 
cited considerable  regret,  and  much  esteem  for  the  man  who 
preferred  the  retirement  of  private  life  to  the  meanness  of 
regal  slavery.  But  Louis  left  a  galling  memento  of  mis- 
placed magnificence,  in  an  increase  of  ninety  millions  of 
florins  (about  nine  millions  sterling)  to  the  already  oppres- 
sive amount  of  the  national  debt  of  the  country. 

The  annexation  of  Holland  to  the  French  empire  was 
immediately  pronounced  by  Napoleon.  Two-thirds  of  the 
national  debt  were  abolished,  the  conscription  law  was  in- 
troduced, and  the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees  against  the 
introduction  of  British  manufactures  were  rigidly  enforced. 
The  nature  of  the  evils  inflicted  on  the  Dutch  people  by  this 
annexation  and  its  consequences  demand  a  somewhat  mi- 
nute examination.  Previous  to  it  all  that  part  of  the  ter- 
ritory of  the  former  United  Provinces  had  been  ceded  to 
France.  The  kingdom  of  Holland  consisted  of  the  depart- 
ments of  the  Zuyder  Zee,  the  mouths  of  the  Maese,  the 
Upper  Yssel,  the  mouths  of  the  Yssel,  Friesland,  and  the 
"Western  and  Eastern  Ems ;  and  the  population  of  the  whole 
did  not  exceed  one  million  eight  hundred  thousand  souls. 


TO  THE  RETURN  OF  THE  PRINCE  OF  ORANGE   345 

When  Louis  abdicated  his  throne,  he  left  a  military  and 
naval  force  of  eighteen  thousand  men,  who  were  immedi- 
ately taken  into  the  service  of  France ;  and  in  three  years 
and  a  half  after  that  event  this  number  was  increased  to 
fifty  thousand,  by  the  operation  of  the  French  naval  and  mil- 
itary code :  thus  about  a  thirty-sixth  part  of  the  whole  popu- 
lation was  employed  in  arms.  The  forces  included  in  the 
maritime  conscription  were  wholly  employed  in  the  navy. 
The  national  guards  were  on  constant  duty  in  the  garri- 
sons or  naval  establishments.  The  cohorts  were  by  law 
only  liable  to  serve  in  the  interior  of  the  French  empire 
— that  is  to  say,  from  Hamburg  to  Rome;  but  after  the 
Russian  campaign,  this  limitation  was  disregarded,  and 
they  formed  a  part  of  Napoleon's  army  at  the  battle  of 
Bautzen. 

The  conscription  laws  now  began  to  be  executed  with  the 
greatest  rigor;  and  though  the  strictest  justice  and  impar- 
tiality were  observed  in  the  ballot  and  other  details  of  this 
most  oppressive  measure,  yet  it  has  been  calculated  that,  on 
an  average,  nearly  one-half  of  the  male  population  of  the 
age  of  twenty  years  was  annually  taken  off.  The  conscripts 
were  told  that  their  service  was  not  to  extend  beyond  the 
term  of  five  years;  but  as  few  instances  occurred  of  a 
French  soldier  being  discharged  without  his  being  de- 
clared unfit  for  service,  it  was  always  considered  in  Holland 
that  the  service  of  a  conscript  was  tantamount  to  an  obliga- 
tion during  life.  Besides,  the  regulations  respecting  the 
conscription  were  annually  changed,  by  which  means  the 
code  became  each  year  more  intricate  and  confused ;  and  as 
the  explanation  of  any  doubt  rested  with  the  functionaries, 
to  whom  the  execution  of  the  law  was  confided,  there  was 
little  chance  of  their  constructions  mitigating  its  severity. 

But  the  conscription,  however  galling,  was  general  in  its 
operation.  Not  so  the  formation  of  the  emperor's  guard  of 
honor.  The  members  of  this  patrician  troop  were  chosen 
from  the  most  noble  and  opulent  families,  particularly  those 
who  were  deemed  inimical  to  the  French  connection.  The 


346  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

selection  depended  altogether  on  the  prefect,  who  was  sure 
to  name  those  most  obnoxious  to  his  political  or  personal 
dislike,  without  regard  to  their  rank  or  occupation,  or  even 
the  state  of  their  health.  No  exemption  was  admitted — not 
even  to  those  who  from  mental  or  bodily  infirmity,  or  other 
cause,  had  been  declared  unfit  for  general  military  duty. 
The  victims  were  forced  to  the  mockery  of  volunteering 
their  services;  obliged  to  provide  themselves  with  horses, 
arms,  and  accoutrements;  arid  when  arrived  at  the  depot 
appointed  for  their  assembling,  considered  probably  but  as 
hostages  for  the  fidelity  of  their  relatives. 

The  various  taxes  were  laid  on  and  levied  in  the  most 
oppressive  manner;  those  on  land  usually  amounting  to 
twenty-five,  and  those  on  houses  to  thirty  per  cent  of  the 
clear  annual  rent.  Other  direct  taxes  were  levied  on  per- 
sons and  movable  property,  and  all  were  regulated  on  a 
scale  of  almost  intolerable  severity.  The  whole  sum  an- 
nually obtained  from  Holland  by  these  means  amounted  to 
about  thirty  millions  of  florins  (or  three  million  pounds  ster- 
.ling),  being  at  the  rate  of  about  one  pound  thirteen  shillings 
four  pence  from  every  soul  inhabiting  the  country. 

The  operation  of  what  was  called  the  continental  system 
created  an  excess  of  misery  in  Holland,  only  to  be  under- 
stood by  those  who  witnessed  its  lamentable  results.  In 
other  countries,  Belgium  for  instance,  where  great  manu- 
factories existed,  the  loss  of  maritime  communication  was 
compensated  by  the  exclusion  of  English  goods.  In  states 
possessed  of  large  and  fertile  territories,  the  population 
which  could  no  longer  be  employed  in  commerce  might  be 
occupied  in  agricultural  pursuits.  But  in  Holland,  whose 
manufactures  were  inconsiderable,  and  whose  territory  is 
insufficient  to  support  its  inhabitants,  the  destruction  of 
trade  threw  innumerable  individuals  wholly  out  of  employ- 
ment, and  produced  a  graduated  scale  of  poverty  in  all 
ranks.  A  considerable  part  of  the  population  had  been 
employed  in  various  branches  of  the  traffic  carried  on  by 
means  of  the  many  canals  which  conveyed  merchandise 


TO  THE  RETURN  OF  THE  PRINCE  OF  ORANGE   347 

from  the  seaports  into  the  interior,  and  to  the  different 
continental  markets.  When  the  communication  with  Eng- 
land was  cut  off,  principals  and  subordinates  were  involved 
in  a  common  ruin. 

In  France,  the  effect  of  the  continental  system  was  some- 
what alleviated  by  the  license  trade,  the  exportation  of  vari- 
ous productions  forced  on  the  rest  of  continental  Europe, 
and  the  encouragement  given  to  home  manufactures.  But 
all  this  was  reversed  in  Holland :  the  few  licenses  granted 
to  the  Dutch  were  clogged  with  duties  so  exorbitant  as  to 
make  them  useless;  the  duties  on  one  ship  which  entered 
the  Maese,  loaded  with  sugar  and  coffee,  amounting  to 
about  fifty  thousand  pounds  sterling.  At  the  same  time 
every  means  was  used  to  crush  the  remnant  of  Dutch 
commerce  and  sacrifice  the  country  to  France.  The  Dutch 
troops  were  clothed  and  armed  from  French  manufactories ; 
the  frontiers  were  opened  to  the  introduction  of  French  com- 
modities duty  free;  and  the  Dutch  manufacturer  undersold 
in  his  own  market. 

The  population  of  Amsterdam  was  reduced  from  two 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  souls  to  one  hundred  and 
ninety  thousand,  of  which  a  fourth  part  derived  their  whole 
subsistence  from  charitable  institutions,  while  another  fourth 
part  received  partial  succor  from  the  same  sources.  At 
Haarlem,  where  the  population  had  been  chiefly  employed 
in  bleaching  and  preparing  linen  made  in  Brabant,  whole 
streets  were  levelled  with  the  ground,  and  more  than  five 
hundred  houses  destroyed.  At  The  Hague,  at  Delft,  and 
in  other  towns,  many  inhabitants  had  been  induced  to  pull 
down  their  houses,  from  inability  to  keep  them  in  repair  or 
pay  the  taxes.  The  preservation  of  the  dikes,  requiring  an 
annual  expense  of  six  hundred  thousand  pounds  sterling, 
was  everywhere  neglected.  The  sea  inundated  the  country, 
and  threatened  to  resume  its  ancient  dominion.  No  object 
of  ambition,  no  source  of  professional  wealth  or  distinction, 
remained  to  which  a  Hollander  could  aspire.  None  could 
voluntarily  enter  the  army  or  navy,  to  fight  for  the  worst 


348  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

enemy  of  Holland.  The  clergy  were  not  provided  with  a 
decent  competency.  The  ancient  laws  of  the  country,  so 
dear  to  its  pride  and  its  prejudices,  were  replaced  by  the 
Code  Napoleon;  so  that  old  practitioners  had  to  recom- 
mence their  studies,  and  young  men  were  disgusted  with 
the  drudgery  of  learning  a  system  which  was  universally 
pronounced  unfit  for  a  commercial  country. 

Independent  of  this  mass  of  positive  ill,  it  must  be  borne 
in  mind  that  in  Holland  trade  was  not  merely  a  means  of 
gaining  wealth,  but  a  passion  long  and  deeply  grafted  on 
the  national  mind :  so  that  the  Dutch  felt  every  aggravation 
of  calamity,  considering  themselves  degraded  and  sacrificed 
by  a  power  which  had  robbed  them  of  all  which  attaches  a 
people  to  their  native  land ;  and,  for  an  accumulated  list  of 
evils,  only  offered  them  the  empty  glory  of  appertaining  to 
the  country  which  gave  the  law  to  all  the  nations  of  Europe, 
with  the  sole  exception  of  England. 

Those  who  have  considered  the  events  noted  in  this  his- 
tory for  the  last  two  hundred  years,  and  followed  the  fluctu- 
ations of  public  opinion  depending  on  prosperity  or  misfort- 
une, will  have  anticipated  that,  in  the  present  calamitous 
state  of  the  country,  all  eyes  were  turned  toward  the  family 
whose  memory  was  revived  by  every  pang  of  slavery,  and 
associated  with  every  throb  for  freedom.  The  presence  of 
the  Prince  of  Orange,  William  IV.,  who  had,  on  the  death 
of  his  father,  succeeded  to  the  title,  though  he  had  lost  the 
revenues  of  his  ancient  house,  and  the  re-establishment  of 
the  connection  with  England,  were  now  the  general  desire. 
Some  of  the  principal  partisans  of  the  House  of  Nassau 
were  for  some  time  in  correspondence  with  his  most  se- 
rene highness.  The  leaders  of  the  various  parties  into 
which  the  country  was  divided  became  by  degrees  more 
closely  united.  Approaches  toward  a  better  understanding 
were  reciprocally  made ;  and  they  ended  in  a  general  anxiety 
for  the  expulsion  of  the  French,  with  the  establishment  of  a 
free  constitution,  and  a  cordial  desire  that  the  Prince  of 
Orange  should  be  at  its  head.  It  may  be  safely  affirmed, 


TO  THE  RETURN  OF  THE  PRINCE  OF  ORANGE   349 

that,  at  the  close  of  the  year  1813,  these  were  the  unanimous 
wishes  of  the  Dutch  nation. 

Napoleon,  lost  in  the  labyrinths  of  his  exorbitant  ambi- 
tion, afforded  at  length  a  chance  of  redress  to  the  nations  he 
had  enslaved.  Elevated  so  suddenly  and  so  high,  he  seemed 
suspended  between  two  influences,  and  unfit  for  either.  He 
might,  in  a  moral  view,  be  said  to  have  breathed  badly,  in 
a  station  which  was  beyond  the  atmosphere  of  his  natural 
world,  without  being  out  of  its  attraction;  and  having 
reached  the  pinnacle,  he  soon  lost  his  balance  and  fell. 
Driven  from  Russia  by  the  junction  of  human  with  ele- 
mental force,  in  1812,  he  made  some  grand  efforts  in  the 
following  year  to  recover  from  his  irremediable  reverses. 
The  battles  of  Bautzen  and  Lutzen  were  the  expiring  efforts 
of  his  greatness.  That  of  Leipzig  put  a  fatal  negative  upon 
the  hopes  that  sprang  from  the  two  former;  and  the  obsti- 
nate ambition,  which  at  this  epoch  made  him  refuse  the 
most  liberal  offers  of  the  allies,  was  justly  punished  by 
humiliation  and  defeat.  Almost  all  the  powers  of  Europe 
now  leagued  against  him;  and  France  itself  being  worn  out 
by  his  wasteful  expenditure  of  men  and  money,  he  had  no 
longer  a  chance  in  resistance.  The  empire  was  attacked  at 
all  points.  The  French  troops  in  Holland  were  drawn  off 
to  reinforce  the  armies  in  distant  directions;  and  the  whole 
military  force  hi  that  country  scarcely  exceeded  ton  thou- 
sand men.  The  advance  of  the  combined  armies  toward  the 
frontiers  became  generally  known :  parties  of  Cossacks  had 
entered  the  north  of  Holland  in  November,  and  were  scour- 
ing the  country  beyond  the  Yssel.  The  moment  for  action 
on  the  part  of  the  Dutch  confederate  patriots  had  now 
arrived;  and  it  was  not  lost  or  neglected. 

A  people  inured  to  revolutions  for  upward  of  two  cent- 
uries, filled  with  proud  recollections,  and  urged  on  by  well- 
digested  hopes,  were  the  most  likely  to  understand  the  best 
period  and  the  surest  means  for  success.  An  attempt  that 
might  have  appeared  to  other  nations  rash  was  proved  to 
be  wise,  both  by  the  reasonings  of  its  authors  and  its  own 


350  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

results.  The  intolerable  tyranny  of  France  had  made  the 
population  not  only  ripe,  but  eager  for  revolt.  This  dis- 
position was  acted  on  by  a  few  enterprising  men,  at  once 
partisans  of  the  House  of  Orange  and  patriots  in  the  truest 
sense  of  the  word.  It  would  be  unjust  to  omit  the  mention 
of  some  of  their  names  in  even  this  sketch  of  the  events 
which  sprang  from  their  courage  and  sagacity.  Count 
Styrum,  Messieurs  Repelaer  d'Jonge,  Van  Hogendorp, 
Vander  Duyn  van  Maasdam,  and  Changuion,  were  the 
chiefs  of  the  intrepid  junta  which  planned  and  executed 
the  bold  measures  of  enfranchisement,  and  drew  up  the 
outlines  of  the  constitution  which  was  afterward  enlarged 
and  ratified.  Their  first  movements  at  The  Hague  were 
totally  unsupported  by  foreign  aid.  Their  early  checks 
from  the  exasperated  French  and  their  overcautious  coun- 
trymen would  have  deterred  most  men  embarked  in  so 
perilous  a  venture;  but  they  never  swerved  nor  shrank 
back.  At  the  head  of  a  force,  which  courtesy  and  policy 
called  an  army,  of  three  hundred  national  guards  badly 
armed,  fifty  citizens  carrying  fowling-pieces,  fifty  soldiers 
of  the  old  Dutch  guard,  four  hundred  auxiliary  citizens 
armed  with  pikes,  and  a  cavalry  force  of  twenty  young 
men,  the  confederates  boldly  proclaimed  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  on  the  17th  of  November,  1813,  in  their  open 
village  of  The  Hague,  and  in  the  teeth  of  a  French  force 
of  full  ten  thousand  men,  occupying  every  fortress  in  the 
country. 

While  a  few  gentlemen  thus  boldly  came  forward,  at 
their  own  risk,  with  no  funds  but  their  private  fortunes, 
and  only  aided  by  an  unarmed  populace,  to  declare  war 
against  the  French  emperor,  they  did  not  even  know  the 
residence  of  the  exiled  prince  in  whose  cause  they  were  now 
so  completely  compromised.  The  other  towns  of  Holland 
were  in  a  state  of  the  greatest  incertitude :  Rotterdam  had 
not  moved;  and  the  intentions  of  Admiral  Kickert,  who 
commanded  there,  were  (mistakenly)  supposed  to  be  de- 
cidedly hostile  to  the  national  cause.  Amsterdam  had,  on 


TO  THE  RETURN  OF  THE  PRINCE  OF  ORANGE   351 

the  preceding  day,  been  the  scene  of  a  popular  commotion, 
which,  however,  bore  no  decided  character ;  the  rioters  hav- 
ing been  fired  on  by  the  national  guard,  no  leader  coming 
forward,  and  the  proclamation  of  the  magistrates  cautiously 
abstaining  from  any  allusion  to  the  Prince  of  Orange.  A 
brave  officer,  Captain  Falck,  had  made  use  of  many  strong 
but  inefficient  arguments  to  prevail  on  the  timid  corporation 
to  declare  for  the  prince;  the  presence  of  a  French  garrison 
of  sixty  men  seeming  sufficient  to  preserve  their  patriotism 
from  any  violent  excess. 

The  subsequent  events  at  The  Hague  furnish  an  inspir- 
ing lesson  for  all  people  who  would  learn  that  to  be  free 
they  must  be  resolute  and  daring.  The  only  hope  of  the 
confederates  was  from  the  British  government,  and  the 
combined  armies  then  acting  in  the  north  of  Europe.  But 
many  days  were  to  be  lingered  through  before  troops  could 
be  embarked,  and  make  their  way  from  England  in  the 
teeth  of  the  easterly  winds  then  prevailing;  while  a  few 
Cossacks,  hovering  on  the  confines  of  Holland,  gave  the 
only  evidence  of  the  proximity  of  the  allied  forces. 

In  this  crisis,  it  was  most  fortunate  that  the  French  pre- 
fect at  The  Hague,  M.  de  Stassart,  had  stolen  away  on  the 
earliest  alarm;  and  the  French  garrison  of  four  hundred 
chasseurs,  aided  by  one  hundred  well-armed  custom-house 
officers,  under  the  command  of  General  Bouvier  des  Eclats, 
caught  the  contagious  fears  of  the  civil  functionary.  This 
force  had  retired  to  the  old  palace — a  building  in  the  centre 
of  the  town,  the  depot  of  all  the  arms  and  ammunition  then 
at  The  Hague,  and,  from  its  position,  capable  of  some  de- 
fence. But  the  general  and  his  garrison  soon  felt  a  com- 
plete panic  from  the  bold  attitude  of  Count  Styrum,  who 
made  the  most  of  his  little  means,  and  kept  up,  during  the 
night,  a  prodigious  clatter  by  his  twenty  horsemen;  sen- 
tinels challenging,  amid  incessant  singing  and  shouting, 
cries  of  "Qranje  boven!"  "Vivat  Oranje!"  and  clamor- 
ous patrols  of  the  excited  citizens.  At  an  early  hour  on 
the  18th,  the  French  general  demanded  terms,  and  obtained 


»52  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

permission  to  retire  on  Gorcum,  his  garrison  being  escorted 
as  far  as  the  village  of  Ryswyk  by  the  twenty  cavaliers 
who  composed  the  whole  mounted  force  of  the  patriots. 

Unceasing  efforts  were  now  made  to  remedy  the  want 
of  arms  and  men.  A  quantity  of  pikes  were  rudely  made 
and  distributed  to  the  volunteers  who  crowded  in;  and 
numerous  fishing-boats  were  despatched  in  different  direc- 
tions to  inform  the  British  cruisers  of  the  passing  events. 
An  individual  named  Pronck,  an  inhabitant  of  Schaevening, 
a  village  of  the  coast,  rendered  great  services  in  this  way, 
from  his  influence  among  the  sailors  and  fishermen  in  the 
neighborhood. 

The  confederates  spared  no  exertion  to  increase  the 
confidence  of  the  people  under  many  contradictory  and 
disheartening  contingencies.  An  officer  who  had  been 
despatched  for  advice  and  information  to  Baron  Bentinck, 
at  Zwolle,  who  was  in  communication  with  the  allies,  re- 
turned with  the  discouraging  news  that  General  Bulow  had 
orders  not  to  pass  the  Yssel,  the  allies  having  decided  not 
to  advance  into  Holland  beyond  the  line  of  that  river.  A 
meeting  of  the  ancient  regents  of  The  Hague  was  convoked 
by  the  proclamation  of  the  confederates,  and  took  place  at 
the  house  of  Mr.  Van  Hogendorp,  the  ancient  residence  of 
the  De  Witts.  The  wary  magistrates  absolutely  refused  all 
co-operation  in  the  daring  measures  of  the  confederates,  who 
had  now  the  whole  responsibility  on  their  heads,  with  little 
to  cheer  them  on  in  their  perilous  career  but  their  own  reso- 
lute hearts  and  the  recollection  of  those  days  when  their 
ancestors,  with  odds  as  fearfully  against  them,  rose  up  and 
shivered  to  atoms  the  yoke  of  their  oppressors. 

Some  days  of  intense  anxiety  now  elapsed ;  and  various 
incidents  occurred  to  keep  up  the  general  excitement.  Re- 
inforcements came  gradually  in;  no  hostile  measure  was 
resorted  to  by  the  French  troops ;  yet  the  want  of  success, 
as  rapid  as  was  proportioned  to  the  first  movements  of  the 
revolution,  threw  a  gloom  over  all.  Amsterdam  and  Rot- 
terdam still  held  back;  but  the  nomination  of  Messrs.  Van 


TO  THE  RETURN  OF  THE  PRINCE  OF  ORANGE   353 

Hogendorp  and  Vander  Duyn  van  Maasdam  to  be  heads 
of  the  government,  until  the  arrival  of  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
and  a  formal  abjuration  of  the  emperor  Napoleon,  inspired 
new  vigor  into  the  public  mind.  Two  nominal  armies  were 
formed,  and  two  generals  appointed  to  the  command;  and 
it  is  impossible  to  resist  a  smile  of  mingled  amusement  and 
admiration  on  reading  the  exact  statement  of  the  forces,  so 
pompously  and  so  effectively  announced  as  forming  the 
armies  of  Utrecht  and  Gorcum. 

The  first  of  these,  commanded  by  Major-General  D' Jonge, 
consisted  of  three  hundred  infantry,  thirty-two  volunteer 
cavalry,  with  two  eight-pounders.  The  latter,  under  the 
orders  of  Major-General  Sweertz  van  Landas,  was  com- 
posed of  two  hundred  and  fifty  of  The  Hague  Orange 
Guard,  thirty  Prussian  deserters  from  the  French  garri- 
son, three  hundred  volunteers,  forty  cavalry,  with  two 
eight-pounders. 

The  ''army  of  Gorcum"  marched  on  the  22d  on  Rotter- 
dam: its  arrival  was  joyfully  hailed  by  the  people,  who 
contributed  three  hundred  volunteers  to  swell  its  ranks. 
The  "army  of  Utrecht"  advanced  on  Leyden,  and  raised 
the  spirits  of  the  people  by  the  display  of  even  so  small  a 
force.  But  still  the  contrary  winds  kept  back  all  appear- 
ance of  succor  from  England,  and  the  enemy  was  known 
to  meditate  a  general  attack  on  the  patriot  lines  from  Am- 
sterdam to  Dordrecht.  The  bad  state  of  the  roads  still 
retarded  the  approach  of  the  far-distant  armies  of  the  al- 
lies; alarms,  true  and  false,  were  spread  on  all  hands — 
when  the  appearance  of  three  hundred  Cossacks,  detached 
from  the  Russian  armies  beyond  the  Yssel,  prevailed  over 
the  hesitation  of  Amsterdam  and  the  other  towns,  and  they 
at  length  declared  for  the  Prince  of  Orange. 

But  this  somewhat  tardy  determination  seemed  to  be  the 
signal  for  various  petty  events,  which  at  an  epoch  like  that 
were  magnified  into  transactions  of  the  most  fatal  import. 
A  reinforcement  of  one  thousand  five  hundred  French  troops 
reached  Gorcum  from  Antwerp:  a  detachment  of  twenty  - 
HOLLAND  (12) 


354  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

five  Dutch,  with  a  piece  of  cannon,  were  surprised  at  one 
of  the  outposts  of  Woerden,  which  had  been  previously 
evacuated  by  the  French,  and  the  recapture  of  the  town 
was  accompanied  by  some  excesses.  The  numbers  and  the 
cruelties  of  the  enemy  were  greatly  exaggerated.  Con- 
sternation began  to  spread  all  over  the  country.  The 
French,  who  seemed  to  have  recovered  from  their  panic, 
had  resumed  on  all  sides  offensive  operations.  The  garri- 
son of  Gorcum  made  a  sortie,  repulsed  the  force  under  Gen- 
eral Van  Landas,  entered  the  town  of  Dordrecht,  and  levied 
contributions;  but  the  inhabitants  soon  expelled  them,  and 
the  army  was  enabled  to  resume  its  position. 

Still  the  wind  continued  adverse  to  arrivals  from  the  En- 
glish coast;  the  Cossacks,  so  often  announced,  had  not  yet 
reached  The  Hague ;  and  the  small  unsupported  parties  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Amsterdam  were  in  daily  danger  of 
being  cut  off. 

In  this  crisis  the  confederates  were  placed  in  a  most  crit- 
ical position.  On  the  eve  of  failure,  and  with  the  certainty, 
in  such  a  result,  of  being  branded  as  rebels  and  zealots, 
whose  rashness  had  drawn  down  ruin  on  themselves,  their 
families,  and  their  country,  it  required  no  common  share 
of  fortitude  to  bear  up  against  the  danger  that  threatened 
them.  Aware  of  its  extent,  they  calmly  and  resolutely  op- 
posed it ;  and  each  seemed  to  vie  with  the  others  in  energy 
and  firmness. 

The  anxiety  of  the  public  had  reached  the  utmost  possi- 
ble height.  Every  shifting  of  the  wind  was  watched  with 
nervous  agitation.  The  road  from  The  Hague  to  the  sea 
was  constantly  covered  with  a  crowd  of  every  age  and  sex, 
Each  sail  that  came  in  sight  was  watched  and  examined 
with  intense  interest ;  and  at  length,  on  the  26th  of  Novem- 
ber, a  small  boat  was  seen  to  approach  the  shore,  and  the 
inquiring  glances  of  the  observers  soon  discovered  that  it 
contained  an  Englishman.  This  individual,  who  had  come 
over  on  a  mercantile  adventure,  landed  amid  the  loudest  ac- 
clamation, and  was  conducted  by  the  populace  in  triumph 


to  the  governor's.  Dressed  in  an  English  volunteer  uni- 
form, he  showed  himself  in  every  part  of  the  town,  to  the 
great  delight  of  the  people,  who  hailed  him  as  the  precursor 
and  type  of  an  army  of  deliverers. 

The  French  soon  retreated  before  the  marvellous  exag- 
gerations which  the  coming  of  this  single  Englishman  gave 
rise  to.  The  Dutch  displayed  great  ability  in  the  transmis- 
sion of  false  intelligence  to  the  enemy.  On  the  27th  Mr. 
Fagel  arrived  from  England  with  a  letter  from  the  Prince 
of  Orange,  announcing  his  immediate  coming;  and  finally, 
the  disembarkation  of  two  hundred  English  marines,  on 
the  29th,  was  followed  the  next  day  by  the  landing  of  the 
prince,  whose  impatience  to  throw  himself  into  the  open 
arms  of  his  country  made  him  spurn  every  notion  of  risk 
and  every  reproach  for  rashness.  He  was  received  with  in- 
describable enthusiasm.  The  generous  flame  rushed  through 
the  whole  country.  No  bounds  were  set  to  the  affectionate 
confidence  of  the  nation,  and  no  prince  ever  gave  a  nobler 
example  of  gratitude.  As  the  people  everywhere  proclaimed 
William  I.  sovereign  prince,  it  was  proposed  that  he  should 
everywhere  assume  that  title.  It  was,  however,  after  some 
consideration,  decided  that  no  step  of  this  nature  should  be 
taken  till  his  most  serene  highness  had  visited  the  capital. 
On  the  1st  of  December  the  prince  issued  a  proclamation  to 
his  countrymen,  in  which  he  states  his  hopes  of  becoming, 
by  the  blessing  of  Providence,  the  means  of  restoring  them 
to  their  former  state  of  independence  and  prosperity. 
"This,"  continued  he,  "is  my  only  object;  and  I  have 
the  satisfaction  of  assuring  you  that  it  is  also  the  object 
of  the  combined  powers.  This  is  particularly  the  wish  of 
the  prince  regent  and  the  British  nation;  and  it  will  be 
proved  to  you  by  the  succor  which  that  powerful  people 
will  immediately  afford  you,  and  which  will,  I  hope,  restore 
those  ancient  bonds  of  alliance  and  friendship  which  were  a 
source  of  prosperity  and  happiness  to  both  countries."  This 
address  being  distributed  at  Amsterdam,  a  proclamation, 
signed  by  the  commissioners  of  the  confederate  patriots, 


356  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

was  published  there  the  same  day.  It  contained  the  fol- 
lowing passages,  remarkable  as  being  the  first  authentic 
declaration  of  the  sovereignty  subsequently  conferred  on 
the  Prince  of  Orange:  "The  uncertainty  which  formerly 
existed  as  to  the  executive  power  will  no  longer  paralyze 
your  efforts.  It  is  not  William,  the  sixth  stadtholder, 
whom  the  nation  recalls,  without  knowing  what  to  hope 
or  expect  from  him;  but  William  I.  who  offers  himself  as 
sovereign  prince  of  this  free  country."  The  following  day, 
the  2d  of  December,  the  prince  made  his  entry  into  Amster- 
dam. He  did  not,  like  some  other  sovereigns,  enter  by  a 
breach  through  the  constitutional  liberties  of  his  country, 
in  imitation  of  the  conquerors  from  the  Olympic  games, 
who  returned  to  the  city  by  a  breach  in  its  walls :  he  went 
forward  borne  on  the  enthusiastic  greetings  of  his  fellow- 
countrymen,  and  meeting  their  confidence  by  a  full  measure 
of  magnanimity.  On  the  3d  of  December  he  published  an 
address,  from  which  we  shall  quote  one  paragraph:  "You 
desire,  Netherlands!  that  I  should  be  intrusted  with  a 
greater  share  of  power  than  I  should  have  possessed  but 
for  my  absence.  Your  confidence,  your  affection,  offer  me 
the  sovereignty;  and  I  am  called  upon  to  accept  it,  since 
the  state  of  my  country  and  the  situation  of  Europe  require 
it.  I  accede  to  your  wishes.  I  overlook  the  difficulties 
which  may  attend  such  a  measure;  I  accept  the  offer 
which  you  have  made  me;  but  I  accept  it  only  on  one 
condition — that  it  shall  be  accompanied  by  a  wise  constitu- 
tion, which  shall  guarantee  your  liberties  and  secure  them 
against  every  attack.  My  ancestors  sowed  the  seeds  of 
your  independence:  the  preservation  of  that  independence 
shall  be  the  constant  object  of  the  efforts  of  myself  and 
those  around  me." 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

PROM    THE    INSTALLATION    OF  WILLIAM  I.    AS   PRINCE   SOV- 
EREIGN   OF    THE    NETHERLANDS    TO    THE   BATTLE 
OF    WATERLOO 

A.D.  1814-1815 

THE  regeneration  of  Holland  was  rapid  and  complete. 
Within  four  months,  an  army  of  twenty-five  thou- 
sand men  was  raised ;  and  in  the  midst  of  financial, 
judicial,  and  commercial  arrangements,  thf  grand  object  of 
the  constitution  was  calmly  and  seriously  debated.  A  com- 
mittee, consisting  of  fourteen  persons  of  the  first  importance 
in  the  several  provinces,  furnished  the  result  of  three  months' 
labors  in  the  plan  of  a  political  code,  which  was  immediately 
printed  and  published  for  the  consideration  of  the  people  at 
large.  Twelve  hundred  names  were  next  chosen  from  among 
the  most  respectable  householders  in  the  different  towns  and 
provinces,  including  persons  of  every  religious  persuasion, 
whether  Jews  or  Christians.  A  special  commission  was 
then  formed,  who  selected  from  this  number  six  hundred 
names;  and  every  housekeeper  was  called  on  to  give  his 
vote  for  or  against  their  election.  A  large  majority  of  the 
six  hundred  notables  thus  chosen  met  at  Amsterdam  on  the 
/J8th  of  March,  1814.  The  following  day  they  assembled 
with  an  immense  concourse  of  people  in  the  great  church, 
which  was  splendidly  fitted  up  for  the  occasion;  and  then 
and  there  the  prince,  in  an  impressive  speech,  solemnly 
offered  the  constitution  for  acceptance  or  rejection.  After 
a  few  hours'  deliberation,  a  discharge  of  artillery  announced 
to  the  anxious  population  that  the  constitution  had  been  ac- 
cepted. The  numbers  present  were  four  hundred  and  eighty- 

(357) 


358  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

three,  and  the  votes  as  follows:  Ayes,  four  hundred  and 
fifty-eight;  Noes,  twenty-five. 

There  were  one  hundred  and  seventeen  members  absent ; 
several  of  these  were  kept  away  by  unavoidable  obstacles. 
The  majority  among  them  was  considered  as  dissentients; 
but  it  was  calculated  that  if  the  whole  body  of  six  hundred 
had  voted,  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  would  have  been 
carried  by  a  majority  of  five-sixths.  The  dissentients  chiefly 
objected  to  the  power  of  declaring  war  and  concluding  treaties 
of  peace  being  vested  in  the  sovereign.  Some  individuals 
urged  that  the  Protestant  interest  was  endangered  by  the 
admission  of  persons  of  every  persuasion  to  all  public  offices ; 
and  the  Catholics  complained  that  the  state  did  not  suffi- 
ciently contribute  to  the  support  of  their  religious  establish- 
ments. 

Such  objections  as  these  were  to  be  expected,  from  in- 
dividual interest  or  sectarian  prejudices.  But  they  prove 
that  the  whole  plan  was  fairly  considered  and  solemnly 
adopted;  that  so  far  from  being  the  dictation  of  a  govern- 
ment, it  was  the  freely  chosen  charter  of  the  nation  at  large, 
offered  and  sworn  to  by  the  prince,  whose  authority  was  only 
exerted  in  restraining  and  modifying  the  overardent  gener- 
osity and  confidence  of  the  people. 

Only  one  day  more  elapsed  before  the  new  sovereign  was 
solemnly  inaugurated,  and  took  the  oath  prescribed  by  the 
constitution:  "I  swear  that  first  and  above  all  things  I  will 
maintain  the  constitution  of  the  United  Netherlands,  and 
that  I  will  promote,  to  the  utmost  of  my  power,  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  state  and  the  liberty  and  prosperity  of  its 
inhabitants."  In  the  eloquent  simplicity  of  this  pledge,  the 
Dutch  nation  found  an  ample  guarantee  for  their  freedom 
and  happiness.  With  their  characteristic  wisdom  and  mod- 
eration, they  saw  that  the  obligation  it  imposed  embraced 
everything  they  could  demand ;  and  they  joined  in  the  opin- 
ion expressed  by  the  sovereign  in  his  inaugural  address,  that 
"no  greater  degree  of  liberty  could  be  desired  by  rational 
subjects,  nor  any  larger  share  of  power  by  the  sovereign, 


TO   THE    BATTLE   OF   WATERLOO  359 

than  that  allotted   to   them    respectively   by  the   political 
code." 

"While  Holland  thus  resumed  its  place  among  free  na- 
tions, and  France  was  restored  to  the  Bourbons  by  the  abdi- 
cation of  Napoleon,  the  allied  armies  had  taken  possession  of 
and  occupied  the  remainder  of  the  Low  Countries,  or  those 
provinces  distinguished  by  the  name  of  Belgium  (but  then 
still  forming  departments  of  the  French  empire),  and  the 
provisional  government  was  vested  in  Baron  Vincent,  the 
Austrian  general.  This  choice  seemed  to  indicate  an  inten- 
tion of  restoring  Austria  to  her  ancient  domination  over  the 
country.  Such  was  certainly  the  common  opinion  among 
those  who  had  no  means  of  penetrating  the  secrets  of  Euro- 
pean policy  at  that  important  epoch.  It  was,  in  fact,  quite 
conformable  to  the  principle  of  statu  quo  ante  bellum, 
adopted  toward  France.  Baron  Vincent  himself  seemed  to 
have  been  impressed  with  the  false  notion;  and  there  did 
not  exist  a  doubt  throughout  Belgium  of  the  re-establish- 
ment of  the  old  institutions. 

But  the  intentions  of  the  allied  powers  were  of  a  nature 
far  different.  The  necessity  of  a  consolidated  state  capable 
of  offering  a  barrier  to  French  aggression  on  the  Flemish 
frontier  was  evident  to  the  various  powers  who  had  so  long 
suffered  from  its  want.  By  England  particularly,  such  a 
field  was  required  for  the  operations  of  her  armies;  and  it 
was  also  to  the  interest  of  that  nation  that  Holland,  whose 
welfare  and  prosperity  are  so  closely  connected  with  her 
own,  should  enjoy  the  blessings  of  national  independence 
and  civil  liberty,  guaranteed  by  internal  strength  as  well 
as  friendly  alliances. 

The  treaty  of  Paris  (30th  May,  1814),  was  the  first  act 
which  gave  an  open  manifestation  of  this  principle.  It  was 
stipulated  by  its  sixth  article,  that  "Holland,  placed  under 
the  sovereignty  of  the  House  of  Orange,  should  receive  an 
increase  of  territory."  In  this  was  explained  the  primitive 
notion  of  the  creation  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Netherlands, 
based  on  the  necessity  of  augmenting  the  power  of  a  nation 


360  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

which  was  destined  to  turn  the  balance  between  France  and 
Germany.  The  following  month  witnessed  the  execution  of 
the  treaty  of  London,  which  prescribed  the  precise  nature 
of  the  projected  increase. 

It  was  wholly  decided,  without  subjecting  the  question  to 
the  approbation  of  Belgium,  that  that  country  and  Holland 
should  form  one  United  State ;  and  the  rules  of  government 
in  the  chief  branches  of  its  administration  were  complete!] 
fixed.  The  Prince  of  Orange  and  the  plenipotentiaries  of 
the  great  allied  powers  covenanted  by  this  treaty:  first, 
that  the  union  of  the  two  portions  forming  the  kingdom 
of  the  Netherlands  should  be  as  perfect  as  possible,  forming 
one  state,  governed  in  conformity  with  the  fundamental  law 
of  Holland,  which  might  be  modified  by  common  consent ; 
secondly,  that  religious  liberty,  and  the  equal  right  of  citizens 
of  all  persuasions  to  fill  all  the  employments  of  the  state, 
should  be  maintained;  thirdly,  that  the  Belgian  provinces 
should  be  fairly  represented  in  the  assembly  of  the  states- 
general,  and  that  the  sessions  of  the  states  in  time  of  peact> 
should  be  held  alternately  in  Belgium  and  in  Holland; 
fourthly  and  fifthly,  that  all  the  commercial  privileges  of 
the  country  should  be  common  to  the  citizens  at  large ;  that 
the  Dutch  colonies  should  be  considered  as  belonging  equally 
to  Belgium;  and,  finally,  that  the  public  debt  of  the  two 
countries,  and  the  expenses  of  its  interest,  should  be  borne 
in  common. 

"We  shall  now  briefly  recapitulate  some  striking  points 
in  the  materials  which  were  thus  meant  to  be  amalgamated. 
Holland,  wrenched  from  the  Spanish  yoke  by  the  genius 
and  courage  of  the  early  princes  of  Orange,  had  formed  for 
two  centuries  an  independent  republic,  to  which  the  exten- 
sion of  maritime  commerce  had  given  immense  wealth.  The 
form  of  government  was  remarkable.  It  was  composed  of 
seven  provinces,  mutually  independent  of  each  other.  These 
provinces  possessed  during  the  Middle  Ages  constitutions 
nearly  similar  to  that  of  England :  a  sovereign  with  limited 
power;  representatives  of  the  nobles  and  commons,  whose 


TO   THE    BATTLE   OF   WATERLOO  361 

concurrence  with  the  prince  was  necessary  for  the  formation 
of  laws;  and,  finally,  the  existence  of  municipal  privileges, 
which  each  town  preserved  and  extended  by  means  of  its 
proper  force.  This  state  of  things  had  known  but  one  alter- 
ation— but  that  a  mighty  one — the  forfeiture  of  Philip  II.  at 
the  latter  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  the  total  aboli- 
tion of  monarchical  power. 

The  remaining  forms  of  the  government  were  hardly 
altered;  so  that  the  state  was  wholly  regulated  by  its  an- 
cient usages;  and,  like  some  Gothic  edifice,  its  beauty  and 
solidity  were  perfectly  original,  and  different  from  the  gen- 
eral rules  and  modern  theories  of  surrounding  nations.  The 
country  loved  its  liberty  such  as  it  found  it,  and  not  in  the 
fashion  of  any  Utopian  plan  traced  by  some  new-fangled 
system  of  political  philosophy.  Inherently  Protestant  and 
commercial,  the  Dutch  abhorred  every  yoke  but  that  of 
their  own  laws,  of  which  they  were  proud  even  in  their 
abuse.  They  held  in  particular  detestation  all  French  cus- 
toms, in  remembrance  of  the  wretchedness  they  had  suffered 
from  French  tyranny;  they  had  unbounded  confidence  in 
the  House  of  Orange,  from  long  experience  of  its  hereditary 
virtues.  The  main  strength  of  Holland  was,  in  fact,  in  its 
recollections;  but  these,  perhaps,  generated  a  germ  of  dis- 
content, in  leading  it  to  expect  a  revival  of  all  the  influence 
it  had  lost,  and  was  little  likely  to  recover,  in  the  total 
change  of  systems  and  the  variations  of  trade.  There  nev- 
ertheless remained  sufficient  capital  in  the  country,  and  the 
people  were  sufficiently  enlightened,  to  give  just  and  exten- 
sive hope  for  the  future  which  now  dawned  on  them.  The 
obstacles  offered  by  the  Dutch  character  to  the  proposed 
union  were  chiefly  to  be  found  in  the  dogmatical  opinions, 
consequent  on  the  isolation  of  the  country  from  all  the  prin- 
ciples that  actuated  other  states,  and  particularly  that  with 
which  it  was  now  joined:  while  long-cherished  sentiments 
of  opposition  to  the  Catholic  religion  was  little  likely  to 
lead  to  feelings  of  accommodation  and  sympathy  with  its 

new  fellow-citizens. 

Holland. — 16 


362  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

The  inhabitants  of  Belgium,  accustomed  to  foreign  domi- 
nation, were  little  shocked  by  the  fact  of  the  allied  powers 
having  disposed  of  their  fate  without  consulting  their  wishes. 
But  they  were  not  so  indifferent  to  the  double  discovery  of 
finding  themselves  the  subjects  of  a  Dutch  and  a  Protestant 
king.  Without  entering  at  large  into  any  invidious  discus- 
sion on  the  causes  of  the  natural  jealousy  which  they  felt 
toward  Holland,  it  may  suffice  to  state  that  such  did  exist, 
and  in  no  very  moderate  degree.  The  countries  had  hitherto 
had  but  little  community  of  interests  with  each  other;  and 
they  formed  elements  so  utterly  discordant  as  to  afford  but 
slight  hope  that  they  would  speedily  coalesce.  The  lower 
classes  of  the  Belgian  population  were  ignorant  as  well  as 
superstitious  (not  that  these  two  qualities  are  to  be  consid- 
ered as  inseparable) ;  and  if  they  were  averse  to  the  Dutch, 
they  were  perhaps  not  more  favorably  disposed  to  the  French 
and  Austrians.  The  majority  of  the  nobles  may  be  said  to 
have  leaned  more,  at  this  period,  to  the  latter  than  to  either 
of  the  other  two  peoples.  But  the  great  majority  of  the  in- 
dustrious and  better  informed  portions  of  the  middle  orders 
felt  differently  from  the  other  two,  because  they  had  found 
tangible  and  positive  advantages  in  their  subjection  to 
France,  which  overpowered  every  sentiment  of  political 
degradation. 

We  thus  see  there  was  little  sympathy  between  the 
members  of  the  national  family.  The  first  glance  at  the 
geographical  position  of  Holland  and  Belgium  might  lead 
to  a  belief  that  their  interests  were  analogous.  But  we 
jave  traced  the  anomalies  in  government  and  religion  in 
the  two  countries,  which  led  to  totally  different  pursuits 
and  feelings.  Holland  had  sacrificed  manufactures  to  com- 
merce. The  introduction,  duty  free,  of  grain  from  the 
northern  parts  of  Europe,  though  checking  the  progress 
of  agriculture,  had  not  prevented  it  to  flourish  marvellously, 
considering  this  obstacle  to  culture;  and,  faithful  to  their 
traditional  notions,  the  Dutch  saw  the  elements  of  well- 
being  only  in  that  liberty  of  importation  which  had  made 


TO   THE   BATTLE   OF   WATERLOO  363 

their  harbors  the  marts  and  magazines  of  Europe.  But 
the  Belgian,  to  use  the  expressions  of  an  acute  and  well- 
informed  writer,  "restricted  in  the  thrall  of  a  less  liberal 
religion,  is  bounded  in  the  narrow  circle  of  his  actual  local- 
ity. Concentrated  in  his  home,  he  does  not  look  beyond 
the  limits  of  his  native  land,  which  he  regards  exclusively. 
Incurious,  and  stationary  in  a  happy  existence,  he  has  no 
interest  in  what  passes  beyond  his  own  doors." 

Totally  unaccustomed  to  the  free  principles  of  trade  so 
cherished  by  the  Dutch,  the  Belgians  had  found,  under  the 
protection  of  the  French  custom-house  laws,  an  internal 
commerce  and  agricultural  advantages  which  composed 
their  peculiar  prosperity.  They  found  a  consumption  for 
the  produce  of  their  well-cultivated  lands,  at  high  prices, 
in  the  neighboring  provinces  of  France.  The  webs  woven 
by  the  Belgian  peasantry,  and  generally  all  the  manufac- 
tures of  the  country,  met  no  rivalry  from  those  of  England, 
which  were  strictly  prohibited;  and  being  commonly  su- 
perior to  those  of  France,  the  sale  was  sure  and  the  profit 
considerable. 

Belgium  was  as  naturally  desirous  of  this  state  of  things 
as  Holland  was  indifferent  to  it ;  but  it  could  only  have  been 
accomplished  by  the  destruction  of  free  trade,  and  the  exclu- 
sive protection  of  internal  manufactures.  Under  such  dis- 
crepancies as  we  have  thus  traced  in  religion,  character, 
and  local  interests,  the  two  countries  were  made  one;  and 
on  the  new  monarch  devolved  the  hard  and  delicate  task  of 
reconciling  each  party  in  the  ill-assorted  match,  and  inspir- 
ing them  with  sentiments  of  mutual  moderation. 

Under  the  title  of  governor-general  of  the  Netherlands 
for  his  intended  elevation  to  the  throne  and  the  definitive 
junction  of  Holland  arid  Belgium  were  still  publicly  un- 
known), the  Prince  of  Orange  repaired  to  his  new  state. 
He  arrived  at  Brussels  in  the  month  of  August,  1814,  and 
his  first  effort  was  to  gain  the  hearts  and  the  confidence  of 
the  people,  though  he  saw  the  nobles  and  the  higher  orders 
of  the  inferior  classes  (with  the  exception  of  the  merchants) 


364  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

intriguing  all  around  him  for  the  re-establishment  of  the 
Austrian  power.  Petitions  on  this  subject  were  printed  and 
distributed;  and  the  models  of  those  anti-national  documents 
may  still  be  referred  to  in  a  work  published  at  the  time. ' 

As  soon  as  the  moment  came  for  promulgating  the  decis- 
ion of  the  sovereign  powers  as  to  the  actual  extent  of  the 
new  kingdom — that  is  to  say,  in  the  month  of  February, 
1815 — the  whole  plan  was  made  public;  and  a  commission, 
consisting  of  twenty-seven  members,  Dutch  and  Belgian, 
was  formed,  to  consider  the  modifications  necessary  in  the 
fundamental  law  of  Holland,  in  pursuance  of  the  stipulation 
of  the  treaty  of  London.  After  due  deliberation  these  modi- 
fications were  formed,  and  the  great  political  pact  was  com- 
pleted for  the  final  acceptance  of  the  king  and  people. 

As  a  document  so  important  merits  particular  considera- 
tion, in  reference  to  the  formation  of  the  new  monarchy,  we 
shall  briefly  condense  the  reasonings  of  the  most  impartial 
and  well-informed  classes  in  the  country  on  the  constitution 
now  about  to  be  framed.  Every  one  agreed  that  some  radi- 
cal change  in  the  whole  form  of  government  was  necessary, 
and  that  its  main  improvement  should  be  the  strengthening 
of  the  executive  power.  That  possessed  by  the  former  staclt- 
holders  of  Holland  was  often  found  to  be  too  much  for  the 
chief  of  a  republic,  too  little  for  the  head  of  a  monarchy. 
The  assembly  of  the  states-general,  as  of  old  constructed, 
was  defective  in  many  points;  in  none  so  glaringly  as  in 
that  condition  which  required  unanimity  in  questions  of 
peace  or  war,  and  in  the  provision,  from  which  they  had 
no  power  to  swerve,  that  all  the  taxes  should  be  uniform. 
Both  these  stipulations  were,  of  sheer  necessity,  continuall}1" 
disregarded;  so  that  the  government  could  be  carried  on  at 
all  only  by  repeated  violations  of  the  constitution.  In  order 
to  excuse  measures  dictated  by  this  necessity,  each  stadt- 
holder  was  perpetually  obliged  to  form  partisans,  and  he 
thus  became  the  hereditary  head  of  a  faction.  His  legiti- 

1  History  of  the  Low  Countries,  by  St.  Genoist 


TO   THE    BATTLE   OF   WATERLOO  365 

mate  power  was  trifling:  but  his  influence  was  capable  of 
fearful  increase;  for  the  principle  which  allowed  him  to 
infringe  the  constitution,  even  on  occasions  of  public  good, 
might  be  easily  warped  into  a  pretext  for  encroachments 
that  had  no  bounds  but  his  own  will. 

Besides,  the  preponderance  of  the  deputies  from  the  com- 
mercial towns  in  the  states-general  caused  the  others  to  be- 
come mere  ciphers  in  times  of  peace ;  only  capable  of  clog- 
ging the  march  of  affairs,  and  of  being,  on  occasions  of  civil 
dissensions,  the  mere  tools  of  whatever  party  possessed  the 
greatest  tact  in  turning  them  to  their  purpose.  Hence  a 
wide  field  was  open  to  corruption.  Uncertainty  embarrassed 
every  operation  of  the  government.  The  Hague  became  an 
arena  for  the  conflicting  intrigues  of  every  court  in  Europe. 
Holland  was  dragged  into  almost  every  war;  and  thus, 
gradually  weakened  from  its  rank  among  independent  na- 
tions, it  at  length  fell  an  easy  prey  to  the  French  invaders. 

To  prevent  the  recurrence  of  such  evils  as  those,  and  to 
establish  a  kingdom  on  the  solid  basis  of  a  monarchy,  un- 
equivocal in  its  essence  yet  restrained  in  its  prerogative,  the 
constitution  we  are  now  examining  was  established.  Ac- 
cording to  the  report  of  the  commissioners  who  framed  it, 
"It  is  founded  on  the  manners  and  habits  of  the  nation,  on 
its  public  economy  and  its  old  institutions,  with  a  disregard 
for  the  ephemeral  constitutions  of  the  age.  It  is  not  a  mere 
abstraction,  more  or  less  ingenious,  but  a  law  adapted  to  the 
state  of  the  country  in  the  nineteenth  century.  It  did  not 
reconstruct  what  was  worn  out  by  time;  but  it  revived  all 
that  was  worth  preserving.  In  such  a  system  of  laws  and 
institutions  well  adapted  to  each  other,  the  members  of  the 
commission  belonging  to  the  Belgian  provinces  recognized 
the  basis  of  their  ancient  charters,  and  the  principles  of  their 
former  liberty.  They  found  no  difficulty  in  adapting  this 
law,  so  as  to  make  it  common  to  the  two  nations,  united  by 
ties  which  had  been  broken  only  for  their  own  misfortune 
and  that  of  Europe,  and  which  it  was  once  more  the  interest 
of  Europe  to  render  indissoluble." 


366  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS 

The  news  of  the  elevation  of  William  I.  to  the  throne 
was  received  in  the  Dutch  provinces  with  great  joy,  in  as 
far  as  it  concerned  him  personally;  but  a  joy  considerably 
tempered  by  doubt  and  jealousy,  as  regarded  their  junction 
with  a  country  sufficiently  large  to  counterbalance  Holland, 
oppose  interests  to  interests,  and  people  to  people.  National 
pride  and  oversanguine  expectations  prevented  a  calm  judg- 
ment on  the  existing  state  of  Europe,  and  on  the  impossibil- 
ity of  Holland,  in  its  ancient  limits,  maintaining  the  influ- 
ence which  it  was  hoped  it  would  acquire. 

In  Belgium  the  formation  of  the  new  monarchy  excited 
the  most  lively  sensation.  The  clergy  and  the  nobility  were 
considerably  agitated  and  not  slightly  alarmed;  the  latter 
fearing  the  resentment  of  the  king  for  their  avowed  predi- 
lection hi  favor  of  Austria,  and  perceiving  the  destruction  of 
every  hope  of  aristocratical  domination.  The  more  elevated 
of  the  middle  classes  also  saw  an  end  to  their  exclusive  oc- 
cupation of  magisterial  and  municipal  employments.  The 
manufacturers,  great  and  small,  saw  the  ruin  of  monopoly 
staring  them  in  the  face.  The  whole  people  took  fright  at 
the  weight  of  the  Dutch  debt,  which  was  considerably 
greater  than  that  of  Belgium.  No  one  seemed  to  look  be- 
yond the  present  moment.  The  advantage  of  colonial  pos- 
sessions seemed  remote  and  questionable  to  those  who  pos- 
sessed no  maritime  commerce;  and  the  pride  of  national 
independence  was  foreign  to  the  feelings  of  those  who  had 
never  yet  tasted  its  blessings. 

It  was  in  this  state  of  public  feeling  that  intelligence  was 
received  in  March,  1815,  of  the  reappearance  in  France  of  the 
emperor  Napoleon.  At  the  head  of  three  hundred  men  he 
had  taken  the  resolution,  without  parallel  even  among  the 
grandest  of  his  own  powerful  conceptions,  of  invading  a 
country  containing  thirty  millions  of  people,  girded  by  the 
protecting  armies  of  coalesced  Europe,  and  imbued,  beyond 
all  doubt,  with  an  almost  general  objection  to  the  former 
despot  who  now  put  his  foot  on  its  shores,  with  imperial  pre- 
tensions only  founded  on  the  memory  of  his  bygone  glory. 


TO    THE    BATTLE    OF   WATERLOO  367 

His  march  to  Paris  was  a  miracle;  and  the  vigor  of  his 
subsequent  measures  redeems  the  ambitious  imbecility  with 
which  he  had  hurried  on  the  catastrophe  of  his  previous  fall. 

The  flight  of  Louis  XVIII.  from  Paris  was  the  sure  sig- 
nal to  the  kingdom  of  the  Netherlands,  in  which  he  took 
refuge,  that  it  was  about  to  become  the  scene  of  another 
contest  for  the  life  or  death  of  despotism.  Had  the  invasion 
of  Belgium,  which  now  took  place,  been  led  on  by  one  of 
the  Bourbon  family,  it  is  probable  that  the  priesthood,  the 
people,  and  even  the  nobility,  would  have  given  it  not 
merely  a  negative  support.  But  the  name  of  Napoleon 
was  a  bugbear  for  every  class ;  and  the  efforts  of  the  king 
and  government,  which  met  with  most  enthusiastic  sup- 
port in  the  northern  provinces,  were  seconded  with  zeal 
and  courage  by  the  rest  of  the  kingdom. 

The  national  force  was  soon  in  the  field,  under  the  com- 
mand of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  the  king's  eldest  son,  and 
heir-apparent  to  the  throne  for  which  he  now  prepared  to 
fight.  His  brother,  Prince  Frederick,  commanded  a  divis- 
ion under  him.  The  English  army,  under  the  duke  of  Wel- 
lington, occupied  Brussels  and  the  various  cantonments  in 
its  neighborhood ;  and  the  Prussians,  commanded  by  Prince 
Blucher,  were  in  readiness  to  co-operate  with  their  allies 
on  the  first  movement  of  the  invaders. 

Napoleon,  hurrying  from  Paris  to  strike  some  rapid  and 
decisive  blow,  passed  the  Sambre  on  the  15th  of  June,  at  the 
head  of  the  French  army,  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
strong,  driving  the  Prussians  before  him  beyond  Charleroi 
and  back  on  the  plain  of  Fleurus  with  some  loss.  On  the 
16th  was  fought  the  bloody  battle  of  Ligny,  hi  which  the 
Prussians  sustained  a  decided  defeat;  but  they  retreated 
in  good  order  on  the  little  river  Lys,  followed  by  Marshal 
Grouchy  with  thirty  thousand  men  detached  by  Napoleon  in 
their  pursuit.  On  the  same  day  the  British  advanced  posi- 
tion at  Quatre  Bras,  and  the  corps  d'armee  commanded  by 
the  Prince  of  Orange,  were  fiercely  attacked  by  Marshal 
;  a  battalion  of  Belgian  infantry  and  a  brigade  of  horse 


368  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

artillery  having  been  engaged  in  a  skirmish  the  preceding 
evening  at  Frasnes  with  the  French  advanced  troops. 

The  affair  of  Quatre  Bras  was  sustained  with  admirable 
firmness  by  the  allied  English  and  Netherland  forces,  against 
an  enemy  infinitely  superior  in  number,  and  commanded  by 
one  of  the  best  generals  in  France.  The  Prince  of  Orange, 
with  only  nine  thousand  men,  maintained  his  position  till 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  despite  the  continual  attacks 
of  Marshal  Ney,  who  commanded  the  left  of  the  French 
army,  consisting  of  forty-three  thousand  men.  But  the  in- 
terest of  this  combat,  and  the  details  of  the  loss  in  killed  and 
wounded,  are  so  merged  in  the  succeeding  battle,  which 
took  place  on  the  18th,  that  they  form  in  most  minds  a  com- 
bination of  exploits  which  the  interval  of  a  day  can  scarcely 
be  considered  to  have  separated. 

The  17th  was  occupied  by  a  retrograde  movement  of  the 
allied  army,  directed  by  the  duke  of  Wellington,  for  the 
purpose  of  taking  its  stand  on  the  position  he  had  previously 
fixed  on  for  the  pitched  battle,  the  decisive  nature  of  which 
his  determined  foresight  had  anticipated.  Several  affairs 
between  the  French  and  English  cavalry  took  place  during 
this  movement;  and  it  is  pretty  well  established  that  the 
enemy,  flushed  with  the  victory  over  Blucher  of  the  preced- 
ing day,  were  deceived  by  this  short  retreat  of  "Wellington, 
and  formed  a  very  mistaken  notion  of  its  real  object,  or  of 
the  desperate  reception  destined  for  the  morrow's  attack. 

The  battle  of  Waterloo  has  been  over  and  over  described 
and  profoundly  felt,  until  its  records  may  be  said  to  exist  in 
the  very  hearts  and  memories  of  the  nations.  The  fiery 
valor  of  the  assault,  and  the  unshakable  firmness  of  the 
resistance,  are  perhaps  without  parallel  in  the  annals  of 
war.  The  immense  stake  depending  on  the  result,  the 
grandeur  of  Napoleon's  isolated  efforts  against  the  flower 
of  the  European  forces,  and  the  awful  responsibility  resting 
on  the  head  of  their  great  leader,  give  to  this  conflict  a 
romantic  sublimity,  unshared  by  all  the  manoeuvring  of  sci- 
ence in  a  hundred  commonplace  combats  of  other  wars.  It 


TO   THE    BATTLE    OF   WATERLOO  369 

forms  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  battles.  It  is  to  the  full  as 
memorable,  as  an  individual  event,  as  it  is  for  the  conse- 
quences which  followed  it.  It  was  fought  by  no  rules,  and 
gained  by  no  tactics.  It  was  a  fair  stand-up  fight  on  level 
ground,  where  downright  manly  courage  was  alone  to  de- 
cide the  issue.  This  derogates  in  nothing  from  the  splendid 
talents  and  deep  knowledge  of  the  rival  commanders.  Their 
reputation  for  all  the  intricate  qualities  of  generalship  rests 
on  the  broad  base  of  previous  victories.  This  day  was  to 
be  won  by  strength  of  nerve  and  steadiness  of  heart;  and  a 
moral  grandeur  is  thrown  over  its  result  by  the  reflection 
that  human  skill  had  little  to  do  where  so  much  was  left  to 
Providence. 

"We  abstain  from  entering  on  details  of  the  battle.  It  is 
enough  to  state  that  throughout  the  day  the  troops  of  the 
Netherlands  sustained  the  character  for  courage  which  so 
many  centuries  had  established.  Various  opinions  have 
gone  forth  as  to  the  conduct  of  the  Belgian  troops  on  this 
memorable  occasion.  Isolated  instances  were  possibly  found, 
among  a  mass  of  several  thousands,  of  that  nervous  weak- 
ness which  neither  the  noblest  incitements  nor  the  finest 
examples  can  conquer.  Old  associations  and  feelings  not 
effaced  might  have  slackened  the  efforts  of  a  few,  directed 
against  former  comrades  or  personal  friends  whom  the  stern 
necessity  of  politics  had  placed  in  opposing  ranks.  Raw 
troops  might  here  and  there  have  shrunk  from  attacks  the 
most  desperate  on  record;  but  that  the  great  principle  of 
public  duty,  on  grounds  purely  national,  pervaded  the  army, 
is  to  be  found  in  the  official  reports  of  its  loss-,  two  thousand 
and  fifty-eight  men  killed  and  one  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  thirty-six  wounded  prove  indelibly  that  the  troops  of 
the  Netherlands  had  their  full  share  in  the  honor  of  the 
day.  The  victory  was  cemented  by  the  blood  of  the  Prince 
of  Orange,  who  stood  the  brunt  of  the  fight  with  his  gallant 
soldiers.  His  conduct  was  conformable  to  the  character  of 
his  whole  race,  and  to  his  own  reputation  during  a  long 
series  of  service  with  the  British  army  in  the  Spanish 


370  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

peninsula.  He  stood  bravely  at  the  head  of  his  troops  dur- 
ing the  murderous  conflict;  or,  like  Wellington,  in  whose 
school  he  was  formed  and  whose  example  was  beside  him, 
rode  from  rank  to  rank  and  column  to  column,  inspiring  his 
men  by  the  proofs  of  his  untiring  courage. 

Several  anecdotes  are  related  of  the  prince's  conduct 
throughout  the  day.  One  is  remarkable  as  affording  an 
example  of  those  pithy  epigrams  of  the  battlefield  with 
which  history  abounds,  accompanied  by  an  act  that  speaks 
a  fine  knowledge  of  the  soldier's  heart.  On  occasion  of  one 
peculiarly  desperate  charge,  the  prince,  hurried  on  by  his 
ardor,  was  actually  in  the  midst  of  the  French,  and  was  in 
the  greatest  danger;  when  a  Belgian  battalion  rushed  for- 
ward, and,  after  a  fierce  struggle,  repulsed  the  enemy  and 
disengaged  the  prince.  In  the  impulse  of  his  admiration 
and  gratitude,  he  tore  from  his  breast  one  of  those  decora- 
tions gained  by  his  own  conduct  on  some  preceding  occa- 
sion, and  flung  it  among  the  battalion,  calling  out,  "Take 
it,  take  it,  my  lads!  you  have  all  earned  it!"  This  deco- 
ration was  immediately  grappled  for,  and  tied  to  the  regi- 
mental standard,  amid  loud  shouts  of  "Long  live  the 
prince!"  and  vows  to  defend  the  trophy,  in  the  very  ut- 
terance of  which  many  a  brave  fellow  received  the  stroke 
of  death. 

A  short  time  afterward,  and  just  half  an  hour  before 
that  terrible  charge  of  the  whole  line,  which  decided  the 
victory,  the  prince  was  struck  by  a  musket-ball  in  the  left 
shoulder.  He  was  carried  from  the  field,  and  conveyed 
that  evening  to  Brussels,  in  the  same  cart  with  one  of  his 
wounded  aides-de-camp,  supported  by  another,  and  display- 
ing throughout  as  much  indifference  to  pain  as  he  had 
previously  shown  contempt  of  danger. 

The  battle  of  Waterloo  consolidated  the  kingdom  of  the 
Netherlands.  The  wound  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  was  per- 
haps one  of  the  most  fortunate  that  was  ever  received  by  an 
individual,  or  sympathized  in  by  a  nation.  To  a  warlike 
people,  wavering  in  their  allegiance,  this  evidence  of  the 


TO   THE   BATTLE   OF   WATERLOO  371 

prince's  valor  acted  like  a  talisman  against  disaffection. 
The  organization  of  the  kingdom  was  immediately  pro- 
ceeded on.  The  commission,  charged  with  the  revision  of 
the  fundamental  law,  and  the  modification  required  by  the 
increase  of  territory,  presented  its  report  on  the  31st  of  July. 
The  inauguration  of  the  king  took  place  at  Brussels  on  the 
21st  of  September,  in  presence  of  the  states-general:  and 
the  ceremony  received  additional  interest  from  the  appear- 
ance of  the  sovereign  supported  by  his  two  sons  who  had  so 
valiantly  fought  for  the  rights  he  now  swore  to  maintain ; 
the  heir  to  the  crown  yet  bearing  his  wounded  arm  in  a 
scarf,  and  showing  in  his  countenance  the  marks  of  recent 
suffering. 

The  constitution  was  finally  accepted  by  the  nation,  and 
the  principles  of  the  government  were  stipulated  and  fixed 
in  one  grand  view — that  of  the  union,  and,  consequently, 
the  force  of  the  new  state. 

It  has  been  asked  by  a  profound  and  sagacious  inquirer, 
or  at  least  the  question  is  put  forth  on  undoubted  authority 
in  his  name,  "Why  did  England  create  for  herself  a  diffi- 
culty, and  what  will  be  by  and  by  a  natural  enemy,  in  unit- 
ing Holland  and  Belgium,  in  place  of  managing  those  two 
immense  resources  to  her  commerce  by  keeping  them  sepa- 
rate? For  Holland,  without  manufactures,  was  the  natural 
mart  for  those  of  England,  while  Belgium  under  an  English 
prince  had  been  the  route  for  constantly  inundating  France 
and  Germany." 

So  asked  Napoleon,  and  England  may  answer  and  justify 
.her  conduct  so  impugned,  on  principles  consistent  with  the 
general  wishes  and  the  common  good  of  Europe.  The  dis- 
cussion of  the  question  is  foreign  to  our  purpose,  which  is  to 
trace  the  circumstances,  not  to  argue  on  the  policy,  that  led 
to  the  formation  of  the  Netherlands  as  they  now  exist.  But 
it  appears  that  the  different  integral  parts  of  the  nation  were 
amalgamated  from  deep-formed  designs  for  their  mutual 
benefit.  Belgium  was  not  given  to  Holland,  as  the  already- 
cited  article  of  the  treaty  of  Paris  might  at  first  sight  seem 


372  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

to  imply;  nor  was  Holland  allotted  to  Belgium.  But  they 
were  grafted  together,  with  all  the  force  of  legislative  wis- 
dom; not  that  one  might  be  dominant  and  the  other  op- 
pressed, but  that  both  should  bend  to  form  an  arch  of  com- 
mon strength,  able  to  resist  the  weight  of  such  invasions  as 
had  perpetually  perilled,  and  often  crushed,  their  separate 
independence. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTER 

A.D.   1815-1899 

IN  the  preceding  chapters  we  have  seen  the  history  of 
Holland  carried  down  to  the  treaty  which  joined  to- 
gether what  are  now  known  as  the  separate  countries 
of  Holland  and  Belgium.  And  it  is  at  this  point  that  the 
interest  of  the  subject  for  the  historian  practically  ceases. 
The  historian  differs  from  the  annalist  in  this — that  he 
selects  for  treatment  those  passages  in  the  career  of  na- 
tions which  possess  a  dramatic  form  and  unity,  and  there- 
fore convey  lessons  for  moral  guidance,  or  for  constituting 
a  basis  for  reasonable  prognostications  of  the  future.  But 
there  are  in  the  events  of  the  world  many  tracts  of  country 
(as  we  might  term  them)  which  have  no  special  character 
or  apparent  significance,  and  which  therefore,  though  they 
may  extend  over  many  years  in  time,  are  dismissed  with 
bare  mention  in  the  pages  of  the  historian;  just  as,  in  trav- 
elling by  rail,  the  tourist  will  keep  his  face  at  the  window 
only  when  the  scenery  warrants  it;  at  other  times  compos- 
ing himself  to  other  occupations. 

The  scenery  of  Dutch  history  has  episodes  as  stirring 
and  instructive  as  those  of  any  civilized  people  since  history 
began ;  but  it  reached  its  dramatic  and  moral  apogee  when 
the  independence  of  the  United  Netherlands  was  acknowl- 
edged by  Spain.  The  Netherlands  then  reached  their  lofti- 
est pinnacle  of  power  and  prosperity ;  their  colonial  posses- 
sions were  vast  and  rich ;  their  reputation  as  guardians  of 
liberty  and  the  rights  of  man  was  foremost  in  the  world. 
But  further  than  this  they  could  not  go;  and  the  moment 
when  a  people  ceases  to  advance  may  generally  be  regarded 
as  the  moment  when,  relatively  speaking  at  least,  it  begins 

(373) 


874  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

to  go  backward.  The  Dutch  could  in  no  sense  become  the 
masters  of  Europe ;  not  only  was  their  domain  too  small, 
but  it  was  geographically  at  a  disadvantage  with  the  power- 
ful and  populous  nations  neighboring  it,  and  it  was  compelled 
ever  to  fight  for  its  existence  against  the  attacks  of  nature 
itself.  The  stormy  waves  of  the  North  Sea  were  ever 
moaning  and  threatening  at  the  gates,  and  ever  and  anon 
a  breach  would  be  made,  and  the  labor  of  generations  an- 
nulled. Holland  could  never  enter  upon  a  career  of  con- 
quest, like  France  or  Russia;  neither  could  she  assume  the 
great  part  which  Britain  has  played ;  for  although  the  char- 
acter of  the  Dutchmen  is  in  many  respects  as  strong  and 
sound  as  that  of  the  English,  and  in  some  ways  its  superior, 
yet  the  Dutch  had  not  been  dowered  with  a  sea-defended 
isle  for  their  habitation,  which  might  enable  them  to  carry 
out  enterprises  abroad  without  the  distraction  and  weakness 
involved  in  maintaining  adequate  guards  at  home.  They 
were  mighty  in  self-defence  and  in  resistance  against  tyr- 
anny ;  and  they  were  unsurpassed  in  those  virtues  and 
qualities  which  go  to  make  a  nation  rich  and  orderly ;  but 
aggression  could  not  be  for  them.  They  took  advantage 
of  their  season  of  power  to  confirm  themselves  in  the  owner- 
ship of  lands  in  the  extreme  East  and  in  the  West,  which 
should  be  a  continual  source  of  revenue;  but  they  could  do 
no  more ;  and  they  wasted  not  a  little  treasure  and  strength 
in  preserving  what  they  had  gained,  or  a  part  of  it,  from 
the  grasp  of  others.  But  this  was  the  sum  of  their  possibil- 
ity ;  they  could  not  presume  to  dictate  terms  to  the  world ; 
and  the  consequence  was  that  they  gradually  ceased  to  be 
a  considered  factor  in  the  European  problem.  In  some 
respects,  their  territorial  insignificance,  while  it  prevented 
them  from  aggressive  action,  preserved  them  from  aggres- 
sion; their  domain  was  not  worth  conquering,  and  again 
its  conquest  could  not  be  accomplished  by  any  nation  with- 
out making  others  uneasy  and  jealous.  They  became,  like 
Switzerland,  and  unlike  Poland  and  Hungary,  a  neutral  re- 
gion, which  it  was  for  the  interest  of  Europe  at  large  to  let 


SUPPLEMENTARY    CHAPTER  375 

alone.  None  cared  to  meddle  with  them ;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  they  had  native  virtue  and  force  enough  to  resist  be- 
ing absorbed  into  other  peoples ;  the  character  of  the  Dutch 
is  as  distinct  to-day  as  ever  it  had  been.  Their  language, 
their  literature,  their  art,  and  their  personal  traits,  are  un- 
impaired. They  are,  in  their  own  degree,  remarkably  pros- 
perous and  comfortable;  and  they  have  the  good  sense  to 
be  content  with  their  condition.  They  are  liberal  and  pro- 
gressive, and  yet  conservative ;  they  are  even  with  modern 
ideas  as  regards  education  and  civilization,  and  yet  the 
tourist  within  their  boundaries  continually  finds  himself 
reminded  of  their  past.  The  costumes  and  the  customs  of 
the  mass  of  the  people  have  undergone  singularly  little 
change;  they  mind  their  own  affairs,  and  are  wisely  in- 
different to  the  affairs  of  others.  Both  as  importers  and 
as  exporters  they  are  useful  to  the  world,  and  if  the  prophe- 
cies of  those  who  foretell  a  general  clash  of  the  European 
powers  should  be  fulfilled,  it  is  likely  that  the  Dutch  will 
be  onlookers  merely,  or  perhaps  profit  by  the  misfortunes 
of  their  neighbors  to  increase  their  own  well-being. 

As  we  have  seen  in  the  foregoing  pages,  Belgium  did 
not  unite  with  the  Hollanders  in  their  revolt  of  the  sixteenth 
century;  but  appertained  to  Burgundy,  and  was  afterward 
made  a  domain  of  France.  But  after  Napoleon  had  been 
overthrown  at  Waterloo,  the  nations  who  had  been  so  long 
harried  and  terrorized  by  him  were  not  satisfied  with  ban- 
ishing the  ex-conqueror  to  his  island  exile,  but  wished  to 
prevent  any  possibility  of  another  Napoleon  arising  to  re- 
new the  wars  which  had  devastated  and  impoverished 
them.  Consequently  they  agreed  to  make  a  kingdom 
which  might  act  as  a  buffer  between  France  and  the  rest 
of  Europe ;  and  to  this  end  they  decreed  that  Belgium  and 
Holland  should  be  one.  But  in  doing  this,  the  statesmen 
or  politicians  concerned  failed  to  take  into  account  certain 
factors  and  facts  which  must  inevitably,  in  the  course  of 
time,  undermine  their  arrangements.  Nations  cannot  be 
arbitrarily  manufactured  to  suit  the  convenience  of  others. 


376  HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS 

There  is  a  chemistry  in  nationalities  which  has  laws  of  its 
own,  and  will  not  be  ignored.  Between  the  Hollanders 
and  the  Belgians  there  existed  not  merely  a  negative  lack 
of  homogeneity,  but  a  positive  incompatibility.  The  Hol- 
landers had  for  generations  been  fighters  and  men  of  enter- 
prise; the  Belgians  had  been  the  appanage  of  more  pow- 
erful neighbors.  The  Hollanders  were  Protestants;  the 
Belgians  were  adherents  of  the  Papacy.  The  former  were 
seafarers;  the  latter,  farmers.  The  sympathies  or  affilia- 
tions of  the  Dutch  were  with  the  English  and  the  Germans ; 
those  of  the  Belgians  were  with  the  French.  Moreover,  the 
Dutch  were  inclined  to  act  oppressively  toward  the  Belgians, 
and  this  disposition  was  made  the  more  irksome  by  the  fact 
that  King  "William  was  a  dull,  stupid,  narrow  and  very  ob- 
stinate sovereign,  who  thought  that  to  have  a  request  made 
of  him  was  reason  sufficient  for  resisting  it. 

But  over  and  above  all  these  causes  for  disintegration  of 
the  new  kingdom  lay  facts  of  the  broadest  significance  and 
application.  The  arbiters  of  1815  did  not  sufficiently  appre- 
hend the  meaning  of  the  French  Revolution.  The  wars  of 
Napoleon  had  made  them  forget  it ;  his  power  had  seemed 
so  much  more  formidable  and  positive  that  the  deeper  forces 
which  had  brought  about  the  events  of  the  last  decade  of 
the  eighteenth  century  were  ignored.  But  they  still  con- 
tinued profoundly  active,  and  were  destined  ere  long  to  an- 
nounce themselves  anew.  They  were  in  truth  the  generative 
forces  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

They  have  not  yet  spent  themselves;  but  as  we  look 
back  upon  the  events  of  the  past  eighty  or  ninety  years,  we 
perceive  what  vast  differences  there  are  between  what  we 
were  in  Napoleon's  day  and  what  we  are  now.  A  long 
period  of  intrigue  and  misrule,  of  wars  and  revolutions,  has 
been  followed  by  material,  mental  and  social  changes  affect- 
ing every  class  of  the  people,  and  especially  that  class  which 
had  hitherto  been  almost  entirely  unconsidered.  The  wars 
of  this  century  have  been  of  another  character  than  those 
of  the  past ;  they  have  not  involved  basic  principles  of  hu- 


SUPPLEMENTARY    CHAPTER  377 

man  association,  but  have  been  the  result  of  attempts  to 
gain  comparatively  trifling  political  advantages,  or  else 
were  the  almost  inevitable  consequence  of  adjustments  of 
national  relations.  Several  small  new  kingdoms  have  ap- 
peared; but  their  presence  has  not  essentially  altered  the 
political  aspect  of  Europe.  It  is  the  conquests  of  mind  that 
have  been,  in  this  century,  far  more  important  than  the 
struggles  of  arms.  Steam,  as  applied  to  locomotion  on  sea 
and  land,  and  to  manufactures,  has  brought  about  modifi- 
cations in  social  and  industrial  conditions  that  cannot  be 
exaggerated.  Steamboats  and  railroads  have  not  only  given 
a  different  face  to  commerce  and  industry,  but  they  have 
united  the  world  in  bonds  of  mutual  knowledge  and  sym- 
pathy, which  cannot  fail  to  profoundly  affect  the  political 
relations  of  mankind.  Isolation  is  ignorance;  as  soon  as 
men  begin  to  discover,  by  actual  intercourse,  the  similari- 
ties and  dissimilarities  of  their  several  conditions,  these  will 
begin  to  show  improvements.  To  be  assured  that  people  in 
one  part  of  the  world  are  better  off  than  those  in  another, 
will  tend  inevitably  to  bring  about  ameliorations  for  the 
latter.  The  domain  of  evil  will  be  continually  restricted, 
and  that  of  good  enlarged.  In  the  dissemination  of  intelli- 
gence and  the  spread  of  sympathy,  the  telegraph,  and  other 
applications  of  electricity,  have  enormously  aided  the  work 
of  steam.  Every  individual  of  civilized  mankind  may  now 
be  cognizant,  at  any  moment,  of  what  is  taking  place  at 
any  point  of  the  earth's  surface  to  which  the  appliances  of 
civilization  have  penetrated.  This  unprecedented  spread  of 
common  acquaintanceship  of  the  world  has  been  supple- 
mented by  discoveries  of  science  in  many  other  directions. 
"We  know  more  of  the  moon  to-day  than  Europe  did  of  this 
planet  a  few  centuries  ago.  The  industrial  arts  are  now 
prosecuted  by  machinery  with  a  productiveness  which  en- 
ables one  man  to  do  the  work  formerly  performed  by  hun- 
dreds, and  which  more  than  keeps  up  the  supply  with  the 
demand.  Conquests  of  natural  forces  are  constantly  mak- 
ing, and  each  one  of  them  adds  to  the  comfort  and  enlight- 


378  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

enment  of  man.  Men,  practically,  live  a  dozen  lives  such  as 
those  of  the  past  in  their  single  span  of  seventy  years ;  and 
we  are  even  finding  means  of  prolonging  the  Scriptural  limit 
of  mortal  existence  physically  as  well  as  mentally. 

But  is  all  this  due  to  that  great  moral  and  social  earth- 
quake to  which  we  give  the  name  of  the  French  Revolution? 
Yes ;  for  that  upheaval,  like  the  plow  of  some  titanic  hus- 
bandman, brought  to  the  surface  elements  of  good  and  use 
which  had  been  lying  fallow  for  unnumbered  ages.  It 
brought  into  view  the  People,  as  against  mere  rulers  and 
aristocrats,  who  had  hitherto  lived  upon  what  the  People 
produced,  without  working  themselves,  and  without  caring 
for  anything  except  to  conserve  things  as  they  were.  Hu- 
man progress  will  never  be  advanced  by  oligarchies,  no 
matter  how  gentle  and  well-disposed.  We  see  their  results 
to-day  in  Spain  and  in  Turkey,  which  are  still  mediaeval, 
or  worse,  in  their  condition  and  methods.  It  is  the  brains 
of  the  common  people  that  have  wrought  the  mighty  change ; 
their  personal  interests  demand  that  they  go  forward,  and 
their  fresh  and  unencumbered  minds  show  them  the  way. 
The  great  scientists,  the  inventors,  the  philanthropists,  the 
reformers,  are  all  of  the  common  people ;  the  statesmen  who 
have  really  governed  the  world  in  this  century  have  sprung 
from  the  common  stock.  The  French  Revolution  destroyed 
the  dominance  of  old  ideas,  and  with  them  the  forms  in 
which  they  were  embodied.  Political,  personal  and  relig- 
ious freedom  are  now  matters  of  course;  but  a  hundred 
years  ago  they  were  almost  unheard  of,  save  in  the  dreams 
of  optimists  and  fanatics.  The  rights  of  labor  have  been 
vindicated;  and  the  right  of  every  human  being  to  the  ben- 
efit of  what  he  produces  has  been  claimed  and  established. 
Along  with  this  improvement  has  come,  of  course,  a  train 
of  evils  and  abuses,  due  to  our  ignorance  of  how  best  to 
manage  and  apply  our  new  privileges  and  advantages;  but 
such  evils  are  transient,  and  the  conditions  which  created 
them  will  suffice,  ere  long,  to  remove  them.  The  conflict 
between  labor  and  capital  is  not  permanent;  it  will  yield 


SUPPLEMENTARY   CHAPTER  379 

to  better  knowledge  of  the  true  demands  of  political  econ- 
omy. The  indifference  or  corruption  of  law  makers  and 
dispensers  will  disappear  when  men  realize  that  personal 
selfishness  is  self-destructive,  and  that  only  care  for  the 
commonweal  can  bring  about  prosperity  for  the  individual. 
The  democracy  is  still  in  its  swaddling  clothes,  and  its  out- 
ward aspect  is  in  many  ways  ugly  and  unwelcome,  and  we 
sigh  for  the  elegance  and  composure  of  old  days ;  but  these 
discomforts  are  a  necessary  accompaniment  of  growth,  and 
will  vanish  when  the  growing  pains  are  past.  The  Press 
is  the  mirror  of  the  aspirations,  the  virtues  and  the  faults 
of  the  new  mankind ;  its  power  is  stupendous  and  constantly 
increasing;  many  are  beginning  to  dread  it  as  a  possible 
agent  of  ill;  but  in  truth  its  real  power  can  only  be  for 
good,  since  the  mass  of  mankind,  however  wedded  to  self- 
ishness as  individuals,  are  united  in  desiring  honesty  and 
good  in  the  general  trend  of  things;  and  it  is  to  the  general- 
ity, and  not  to  the  particular,  that  the  Press,  to  be  success- 
ful, must  appeal.  It  is  the  great  critic  and  the  great  re- 
corder; and  in  the  face  of  such  criticism  and  record  abuses 
cannot  long  maintain  themselves.  Men  will  be  free,  first 
of  external  tyrannies,  and  then  of  that  more  subtle  but  not 
less  dangerous  tyranny  which  they  impose  upon  themselves. 
As  might  have  been  expected,  extremists  have  arisen  who 
sought  to  find  a  short  road  to  perfection,  and  they  have  met 
with  disappointment.  The  dreams  of  the  socialists  have  not 
been  realized;  men  will  not  work  for  one  another  unless 
they  are  at  the  same  time  working  for  themselves.  The 
communist  and  the  nihilist  are  yet  further  from  the  true 
ideal;  there  will  always  remain  in  human  society  certain 
persons  who  rule,  and  others  who  obey.  There  must  al- 
ways, in  all  affairs,  be  a  head  to  direct  as  well  as  hands  to 
execute.  Men  are  born  unequal  in  intelligence  and  ability; 
and  it  will  never  be  possible  to  reduce  leaders  to  the  level 
of  followers.  The  form  of  society  must  take  its  model  from 
the  human  form,  in  which  one  part  is  subordinate  to  an- 
other, yet  all  work  together  in  harmony.  Only  time — and 


380  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

probably  no  very  long  time — is  required  to  bring  a  recogni~ 
tion  of  these  facts.  Meanwhile,  the  very  violence  of  the 
revolts  against  even  the  suspicion  of  oppression  are  but 
symptoms  of  the  vigorous  vitality  which,  in  former  cent- 
uries, seemed  to  have  no  existence  at  all.  On  the  other 
hand,  industrial  co-operation  seems  to  promise  successful 
development;  it  involves  immense  economies,  and  conse- 
quent profit  to  producers.  The  middleman  has  his  uses, 
and  especially  is  he  a  convenience ;  but  it  is  easy  to  pay  too 
dear  for  conveniences ;  and  there  seems  no  reason  why  the 
producer  should  not,  as  time  goes  on,  become  constantly 
better  equipped  for  dealing  direct  with  the  consumer,  to 
the  manifest  advantage  of  both. 

All  these  and  many  other  triumphs  of  civilization,  which 
we  see  now  in  objective  form,  were  present  in  potency  at 
the  beginning  of  this  century,  though,  as  we  have  said, 
they  were  not  duly  taken  into  account  by  the  framers  of 
the  agreement  which  sought  to  make  Holland  and  Belgium 
one  flesh.  Had  the  sun  not  yet  risen  upon  the  human  hori- 
zon, the  attempt  might  have  had  a  quasi  success;  but  the 
light  was  penetrating  the  darkened  places,  and  men  were  no 
longer  willing  to  accept  subjection  as  their  inevitable  doom. 
It  might  be  conducive  to  the  comfort  of  the  rest  of  Europe 
that  Batavian  and  Belgian  should  dwell  together  under  one 
political  roof;  but  it  did  not  suit  the  parties  themselves;  and 
therefore  they  soon  began  to  make  their  incompatibility 
known.  But  nothing  was  heard  beyond  the  grumblings  of 
half -awakened  discontent  until,  in  1830,  the  new  revolution 
in  Paris  sent  a  sympathetic  thrill  through  all  the  dissatisfied 
of  Europe.  A  generation  had  now  passed  since  the  first 
great  upheaval,  and  men  had  had  time  to  digest  the  lesson 
which  it  conveyed,  and  to  draw  various  more  or  less  rea- 
sonable inferences  as  to  future  possibilities.  It  had  been 
determined  that,  broadly  speaking,  what  the  people  heartily 
wanted,  the  people  might  have;  and  the  disturbances  in 
Paris  indicated  that  the  people  were  prepared  to  resent  any 
attempt  on  the  part  of  their  rulers  to  bring  back  the  old 


SUPPLEMENTARY   CHAPTER  381 

abuses.  When  the  Pentarchy,  in  1815,  had  made  its  divis- 
ion of  the  spoils  of  Napoleon,  the  Bourbons  were  reseated  on 
the  throne  which  Louis  XI V.  had  made  famous;  but  Louis 
XVIII.  was  but  a  degenerate  representative  of  the  glories 
that  had  been.  He  adopted  a  reactionary  policy  against  the 
Napoleonic  (or  imperialist),  the  republican  and  the  Protest- 
ant elements  in  France;  and  outrages  and  oppressions  oc- 
curred. As  a  consequence,  secret  societies  were  formed  to 
counteract  the  ultra-royalist  policy.  When  Louis  died,  it 
was  hoped  that  his  successor,  Charles  X. ,  might  introduce 
improvements;  but  on  the  contrary  he  only  made  matters 
worse.  The  consequence  was  the  gradual  growth  of  a  lib- 
eral party,  seeking  a  monarchy  based  on  the  support  of  the 
great  middle  class  of  the  population.  In  1827  Charles  dis- 
banded the  National  Guard ;  and  in  the  following  year  the 
liberals  elected  a  majority  in  the  Chamber.  Charles  fool- 
ishly attempted  to  meet  this  step  by  making  the  prince  de 
Polignac  his  minister,  who  stood  for  all  that  the  people  had 
in  abhorrence.  The  prince  issued  ordinances  declaring  the 
late  elections  illegal,  narrowing  down  the  rights  of  suffrage 
to  the  large  landowners,  and  forbidding  all  liberty  to  the 
press.  Hereupon  the  populace  of  Paris  erected  barricades 
and  took  up  arms;  and  in  the  "Three  Days"  from  the  27th 
to  the  29th  of  July,  1830,  they  defeated  the  forces  of  the 
king,  and  after  capturing  the  Hotel  de  Ville  and  the 
Louvre,  sent  him  into  exile,  and  made  the  venerable  and 
faithful  Lafayette  commander  of  the  National  Guard.  But 
the  revolutionists  showed  forbearance;  and  instead  of  be- 
heading Charles,  as  they  might  have  done,  they  let  him 
go,  and  punished  the  ministers  by  imprisonment  only.  This 
put  an  end  to  the  older  line  of  the  Bourbons  in  France,  and 
the  representative  of  the  younger  branch,  Louis  Philippe 
("Philippe  Egalite"),  was  set  on  the  throne,  in  the  hope  that 
he  would  be  willing  to  carry  out  the  people's  will. 

AH  this  was  interesting  to  the  Belgians,  and  they  profited 
by  the  example.  They  regarded  William  as  another  Charles, 
and  deemed  themselves  justified  in  revolting  against  his  rule. 


382  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

They  declared  that  they  were  no  longer  subject  to  his  con- 
trol, and  issue  was  joined  on  that  point.  But  the  Powers 
were  not  ready  to  permit  the  dissolution  of  their  anxiously 
constructed  edifice;  and  they  met  together  with  a  view  to 
arranging  some  secure  modus  vivendi.  The  issue  of  their 
deliberations  took  the  form  of  proposing  that  the  duchy  of 
Luxemburg,  at  the  southeast  corner  of  Belgium,  should  be 
ceded  to  Holland  on  the  north.  This  suggestion  was  favor- 
ably received  by  the  Hollanders,  but  was  not  so  agreeable 
to  the  Belgians;  and  an  assembly  at  Brussels  devised  and 
adopted  a  liberal  constitution,  and  invited  Leopold  of  Saxe- 
Coburg  to  occupy  their  throne.  Leopold  was  at  this  time 
about  forty  years  of  age ;  he  was  the  youngest  son  of  Fran- 
cis, duke  of  Saxe-Coburg;  he  had  married,  in  1816,  the 
daughter  of  George  IV.  of  England,  the  princess  Charlotte, 
and  had,  a  few  months  before  the  Belgians'  proposal,  been 
offered  and  had  refused  the  crown  of  Greece.  But  the  Bel- 
gian throne  was  more  to  his  liking ;  and  after  taking  meas- 
ures to  sound  the  Powers  on  the  subject,  and  to  assure  him- 
self of  their  good  will,  he  accepted  the  proffer,  and  was 
crowned  under  the  title  of  Leopold  I.  His  reign  lasted 
thirty-four  years,  and  was  comparatively  uneventful  and 
prosperous. 

But  the  Dutch  refused  to  tolerate  this  change  of  sover- 
eignty without  a  struggle;  William  raised  an  army  and 
suddenly  threw  it  into  Belgium;  and  the  chances  are  that 
he  would  have  made  short  work  of  Belgian  resistance  had 
the  two  been  permitted  to  fight  out  their  quarrel  undis- 
turbed. This,  however,  could  not  happen;  since  the  in- 
dependence of  Belgium  had  been  recognized  by  England, 
Austria,  Russia,  and  Prussia;  and  the  triumphal  march  of 
the  Dutch  was  arrested  by  a  French  army  which  happened 
to  be  in  the  place  where  they  could  be  most  effective  in  the 
circumstances.  The  Dutch  had  occupied  Antwerp,  a  town 
on  the  borderland  of  Belgium  and  Holland.  It  had  been  in 
the  possession  of  the  French  in  1794,  but  had  been  taken 
from  them  at  the  Restoration  in  1814.  The  French  now 


SUPPLEMENTARY    CHAPTER  383 

laid  siege  to  it,  being  under  the  command  of  Gerard,  while 
the  Dutch  were  led  by  Chasse.  The  citadel  was  taken  in 
1832,  and  the  resistance  of  the  Dutch  to  the  decree  of  Europe 
was  practically  at  an  end,  though  William  the  Obstinate  re- 
fused for  several  years  to  accept  the  fact.  The  duchy  of 
Luxemburg  had  sided  with  the  Belgians  all  along,  as  might 
have  been  anticipated  from  its  position  and  natural  affilia- 
tions; and  though  no  immediate  action  was  taken  relative 
to  its  ownership  till  1839,  it  remained  during  the  interval  in 
Belgian  hands.  Matters  remained  in  this  ambiguous  condi- 
tion for  some  time;  but  though  the  Dutch  might  grumble, 
they  could  not  fight.  At  length  the  treaty  of  1839  was 
signed  in  London,  on  the  19th  of  April,  according  to  the 
terms  of  which  part  of  the  duchy  of  Luxemburg  was  re- 
tained by  the  Belgians,  and  part  was  ruled  by  the  king  of 
Holland  as  grand  duke.  In  other  respects,  the  status  quo 
ante  was  preserved,  and  the  partition  of  Holland  and  Bel- 
gium was  confirmed,  as  it  has  ever  since  remained.  The 
history  of  Belgium  thenceforward  has  been  almost  wholly 
devoid  of  incidents;  the  little  nation  may  quote  the  apo- 
thegm as  applying  to  themselves,  "Short  are  the  annals  of 
a  happy  people!"  Their  insignificance  and  their  geographi- 
cal position  secure  them  against  all  disturbance.  They  live 
in  their  tiny  quarters  with  economy  and  industry ;  the  most 
densely  populous  community  in  Europe,  and  one  of  the  most 
prosperous.  Around  their  borders  rises  the  sullen  murmur 
of  threatening  armies  and  hostile  dynasties ;  but  Belgium  is 
free  from  menace,  and  their  sunshine  of  peace  is  without  a 
cloud.  It  is  of  course  conceivable  that  in  the  great  struggle 
which  seems  impending,  the  Belgian  nation  may  suddenly 
vanish  from  the  map,  and  become  but  a  memory  in  the 
minds  of  a  future  generation ;  but  their  end,  if  it  eome,  is 
likely  to  be  in  the  nature  of  a  euthanasia,  and  so  far  as  they 
are  physicaUy  concerned,  they  will  survive  their  political 
annihilation.  The  only  ripples  which  have  varied  the  smooth 
surface  of  their  career  since  the  treaty,  have  been  disputes 
between  the  liberal  and  clerical  parties  on  questions  of  edu- 


384  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

cation,  and  disturbances  and  occasional  riots  instigated  by 
socialists  over  industrial  questions.  Leopold,  dying  at  the 
age  of  seventy-six,  was  succeeded  by  his  son  as  Leopold  II., 
and  his  reign  continued  during  the  remainder  of  the  century. 

The  treaty  of  1839,  in  addition  to  its  provisions  already 
mentioned,  gave  Limburg,  on  the  Prussian  border,  to  the 
Dutch,  and  opened  the  Scheldt  under  heavy  tolls.  In  Octo- 
ber of  the  year  following  the  treaty,  William  I.  abdicated 
the  throne  of  Holland  in  favor  of  his  son.  He  had  not  en- 
joyed his  reign,  and  he  retired  in  an  ill  humor,  which  was 
not  without  some  excuse.  His  career  had  been  a  worthy 
one ;  he  had  been  a  soldier  in  the  field  from  his  twenty-first 
year  till  the  battle  of  "Wagram  in  1809,  when  he  was  near 
forty ;  after  that  he  dwelt  in  retirement  in  Berlin  until  he 
was  called  to  the  throne  of  the  Netherlands.  At  that  time 
he  had  exchanged  his  German  possessions  for  the  grand 
duchy  of  Luxemburg ;  and  was  therefore  naturally  reluctant 
to  be  deprived  of  the  latter.  The  old  soldier  survived  his 
abdication  only  a  few  years,  dying  in  1843  at  Berlin. 

William  II.  was  a  soldier  like  his  father.  He  had  gained 
distinction  under  Wellington  in  the  Spanish  campaign,  and 
in  the  struggle  against  Napoleon  during  the  Hundred  Days 
he  commanded  the  Dutch  contingent.  He  married  Anne, 
sister  of  Alexander  I.  of  Russia,  in  1816,  and  at  the  out- 
break of  the  revolution  of  1830  he  was  sent  to  Belgium  to 
bring  about  an  arrangement.  On  the  16th  of  October  of 
that  year  he  took  the  step,  which  was  repudiated  by  his 
rigid  old  father,  of  acknowledging  Belgian  independence; 
but  he  subsequently  commanded  the  Dutch  army  against 
the  Belgians,  and  was  forced  to  yield  to  the  French  in  Au- 
gust, 1832.  After  his  accession,  he  behaved  with  firmness 
and  liberality,  and  died  in  1849  leaving  a  good  reputation 
behind  him. 

Meanwhile,  the  new  revolution  of  1848  was  approaching. 
Insensibly,  the  states  of  Europe  had  ranged  themselves  under 
two  principles.  There  were  on  one  side  the  states  governed 
by  constitutions,  including  Great  Britain,  France,  Holland, 


SUPPLEMENTARY   CHAPTER  385 

Belgium,  Switzerland,  Sweden  and  Norway,  Denmark,  and, 
for  the  time  being,  Spain  and  Portugal.  On  the  other  side 
were  Russia,  Prussia,  Austria,  the  Italian  States,  and  some 
of  those  of  Germany,  who  held  that  the  right  of  rule  and 
the  making  of  laws  belonged  absolutely  to  certain  dynasties, 
which  were,  indeed,  morally  bound  to  consult  the  interests 
of  their  populations,  yet  were  not  responsible  to  their  sub- 
jects for  the  manner  in  which  they  might  choose  to  do  it. 
In  the  last  mentioned  states  there  existed  a  chronic  strife 
between  the  people  and  their  rulers.  It  was  an  irrepressible 
conflict,  and  its  crisis  was  reached  in  1848. 

It  was  in  France  that  things  first  came  to  a  head.  Loui» 
Philippe  and  his  minister,  Guizot,  tried  to  render  the  gov- 
ernment gradually  independent  of  the  nation,  in  imitation 
of  the  absolutist  empires ;  and  the  uneasiness  caused  by  this 
policy  was  emphasized  by  the  scarcity  that  prevailed  during 
the  years  1846  and  1847.  The  Liberals  began  to  demand 
electoral  reform;  but  the  king,  on  opening  the  Chambers, 
intimated  that  he  was  convinced  that  no  reform  was  needed. 
Angry  debates  ensued,  and  finally  the  opposition  arranged 
for  a  great  banquet  in  the  Champs  Elysee  on  February  22, 
1848,  in  support  of  the  reform  movement.  This  gathering, 
however,  was  forbidden  by  Guizot.  The  order  was  regarded 
as  arbitrary,  and  the  Republicans  seized  the  opportunity. 
Barricades  appeared  in  Paris,  the  king  was  forced  to  abdi- 
cate, and  took  refuge  with  his  family  in  England.  France 
was  thereupon  declared  to  be  a  Republic,  and  the  govern- 
ment was  intrusted  to  Lamartine  and  others.  There  was 
now  great  danger  of  excesses  similar  to  those  of  the  first 
great  revolution;  but  the  elements  of  violence  were  kept 
under  by  the  opposition  of  the  middle  and  higher  classes. 
The  communistic  clubs  were  overawed  by  the  National 
Guards,  and  on  April  16th  the  Communistic  party  was  de- 
feated. General  Cavaignac,  who  had  been  made  dictator 
during  the  struggle,  laid  down  his  office  after  the  battle 
which  began  on  the  23d  of  June  between  the  rabble  of  idle 

mechanics,  eighty  thousand  in  number,   and  the  national 

Holland. — 17 


386  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS 

forces  had  been  decided  in  favor  of  the  latter,  who  slew  ne 
less  than  sixteen  thousand  of  the  enemy.  Cavaignac  was 
now  appointed  chief  of  the  Executive  Commission  with  the 
title  of  President  of  the  Council.  A  reaction  favoring  a 
monarchy  was  indicated;  but  meanwhile  a  new  constitu- 
tion provided  for  a  quadriennial  presidency,  with  a  single 
legislature  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty  members.  Louis 
Napoleon,  the  nephew  of  the  great  emperor,  was  chosen 
by  a  majority  vote  for  the  office  in  December  of  1848.  Four 
years  later  he  was  declared  emperor  under  the  title  of 
Napoleon  III. 

The  revolutionary  movement  spread  to  other  countries 
of  Europe,  with  varying  results.  In  Hungary,  Kossuth  in 
the  Diet  demanded  of  the  emperor-king  a  national  govern- 
ment. Prince  Metternich,  prime  minister,  attempted  to  re- 
sist the  demand  with  military  force,  but  an  insurrection  in 
Vienna  drove  him  into  exile,  and  the  Hungarians  gained 
a  temporary  advantage,  and  were  granted  a  constitution. 
The  Slavs  met  at  Prague,  at  the  instigation  of  Polocky, 
and  held  a  congress;  but  it  was  broken  up  by  the  impa- 
tience of  the  inhabitants,  and  a  success  of  the  imperialists 
was  followed  by  the  rising  of  the  southern  Slavs  in  favor 
of  the  emperor.  A  battle  took  place  in  Hungary  on  Sep- 
tember 11,  1848,  but  the  imperialists  under  Jellachich  were 
routed  and  driven  toward  the  Austrian  frontier.  The  war 
became  wider  in  its  scope;  the  insurrectionists  at  first  met 
with  success;  but  in  spite  of  their  desperate  valor  the  Hun- 
garian forces  were  finally  overthrown  by  the  aid  of  a  Eussian 
army;  and  their  leader,  Goergy,  was  compelled  to  surrender 
to  the  Kussians  on  August  13,  1849.  It  was  thought  that 
the  Czar  might  annex  Hungary;  but  he  handed  it  back  to 
Francis  Joseph,  who,  by  way  of  vengeance,  permitted  the 
most  hideous  cruelties. 

In  Germany,  the  issue  had  no  definite  feature.  The  peo- 
ple demanded  freedom  of  the  Press  and  a  German  parlia- 
ment, and  the  various  princes  seemed  acquiescent;  but  when 
it  was  proposed  that  Prussia  should  become  Germany,  there 


SUPPLEMENTARY    CHAPTER  387 

was  opposition  on  all  sides ;  a  Diet  of  the  Confederation  was 
held,  but  Frederick  William  IV.,  king  of  Prussia,  refused 
to  accept  the  title  of  hereditary  emperor  which  was  offered 
him.  Austria  and  Prussia  came  into  opposition ;  two  rival 
congresses  were  sitting  at  the  same  time  in  1850,  and  war 
between  the  two  states  was  only  averted  by  the  interference 
of  Russia.  Czar  Nicholas,  then  virtually  dictator  of  Eu- 
rope, ordered  Prussia's  troops  back,  and  the  Convention  of 
Olmutz,  in  November,  seemed  to  put  a  final  end  to  Prussia's 
hopes  of  German  hegemony. 

All  the  local  despotisms  of  Italy  collapsed  before  the 
breath  of  revolution ;  but  the  country  then  found  itself  face 
to  face  with  Austria.  Charles  Albert  of  Sardinia  had  the 
courage  to  head  the  revolt ;  but  was  defeated,  and  abdicated 
in  favor  of  his  son  Victor  Emmanuel.  Venice  was  taken 
after  a  severe  siege  by  the  Austrians;  and  King  Bomba 
managed  to  repossess  himself  of  Naples,  after  a  terrible 
massacre.  Sicily  was  subdued.  In  the  Papal  States,  Pio 
Nono  was  deposed ;  but  after  a  time  a  reaction  set  in,  the 
provisional  government  under  Mazzini  was  overthrown,  and 
the  French  occupied  Rome  and  recalled  the  Pope. 

The  question  as  to  the  Danish  or  German  ownership  of 
the  duchies  of  Schleswig-Holstein  had  already  been  agi- 
tated, and  they  became  acute  at  this  time;  but  the  spirit 
of  the  new  revolution  had  no  direct  bearing  upon  the  mat- 
ter. By  the  end  of  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
Europe  was  outwardly  quiet  once  more. 

And  what  part  had  Holland  taken  in  these  proceedings? 
A  very  small  one.  The  phlegmatic  Dutchmen  found  them- 
selves fairly  well  off,  and  were  nowise  tempted  to  embark 
in  troubles  for  sentiment's  sake.  The  constitution  given 
them  hi  1814  was  revised,  with  the  consent  of  the  king,  and 
the  changes,  which  involved  various  political  reforms,  went 
into  effect  on  April  17,  1848.  "William  II.  died  just  eleven 
months  afterward,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  William 
III.,  at  that  time  a  man  of  two-and- thirty.  He  favored 
the  reforms  granted  by  his  father,  and  showed  himself  to 


388  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

be  in  harmony  with  such  sober  ideas  of  progress  as  belonged 
to  the  nation  over  which  he  ruled.  His  aim  in  all  things 
was  peace,  and  the  development  of  the  resources  of  the 
country;  he  understood  his  people,  and  they  placed  confi- 
dence in  him,  and  Holland  steadily  grew  in  wealth  and 
comfort.  In  1853,  after  the  establishment  by  the  papacy 
of  Catholic  bishoprics  had  been  allowed,  there  was  a  period 
of  some  excitement;  for  Roman  Catholicism  had  found  a 
stern  and  unconquerable  foe  in  the  Dutch,  when  it  had 
come  with  the  bloody  tyranny  of  Spain.  But  those  evil 
days  were  past,  and  the  Dutch,  who  had  pledged  them- 
selves to  welcome  religious  freedom  in  their  dominions, 
were  disposed  to  let  bygones  be  bygones,  and  to  permit 
such  of  their  countrymen  as  preferred  the  Catholic  cere- 
monial to  have  their  way.  It  was  evident  that  no  danger 
existed  of  Holland's  becoming  subject  to  the  papacy;  and, 
indeed,  the  immediate  political  sequel  of  the  establishment 
of  the  bishoprics  was  the  election  of  a  moderate,  liberal, 
Protestant  cabinet,  which  thoroughly  represented  the  coun- 
try, and  which  represented  its  tone  thereafter,  with  such 
modifications  as  new  circumstances  might  suggest.  The 
Dutch  were  philosophic,  and  were  victims  to  no  vague  and 
costly  ambitions.  They  felt  that  they  had  given  sufficient 
proofs  of  their  quality  in  the  past;  the  glory  which  they 
had  won  as  champions  of  liberty  could  never  fade;  and 
now  they  merited  the  repose  which  we  have  learned  to  as- 
sociate with  our  conception  of  the  Dutch  character.  Their 
nature  seems  to  partake  of  the  scenic  traits  of  their  country ; 
its  picturesque,  solid  serenity,  its  unemotional  levels,  its 
flavor  of  the  antique :  and  yet  beneath  that  composure  we 
feel  the  strength  and  steadfastness  which  can  say  to  the 
ocean,  Thus  far  and  no  further,  and  can  build  their  im- 
maculate towns,  and  erect  their  peaceful  windmills,  and 
navigate  their  placid  canals,  and  smoke  their  fragrant  pipes 
on  land  which,  by  natural  right,  should  be  the  bottom  of 
the  sea.  Holland  is  a  perennial  type  of  human  courage 
and  industry,  common  sense  and  moderation.  As  we  con- 


SUPPLEMENTARY   CHAPTER  389 

template  them  to-day,  it  requires  an  effort  of  the  imagina- 
tion to  picture  them  as  the  descendants  of  a  race  of  heroes 
who  defied  and  overcame  the  strongest  and  most  cruel 
Power  on  earth  in  their  day,  and  then  taught  the  rest  of 
Europe  how  to  unite  success  in  commerce  with  justice  and 
honor.  But  the  heroism  is  still  there,  and,  should  need 
arise,  we  need  not  doubt  that  it  would  once  more  be  mani- 
fested. 

Because  Holland  is  so  quiet,  some  rash  critics  fancy  that 
she  may  be  termed  effete.  But  this  is  far  from  the  truth. 
The  absence  of  military  burdens,  rendered  needless  by  the 
intelligent  selfishness,  if  not  the  conscience,  of  the  rest  of 
Europe,  implies  no  decadence  of  masculine  spirit  in  the 
Dutch:  In  no  department  of  enterprise,  commercial  abil- 
ity, or  intellectual  energy  are  they  inferior  to  any  of 
their  contemporaries,  or  to  their  own  great  progenitors. 
"Holland,"  says  Professor  Thorold  Rogers,  "is  the  origin 
of  scientific  medicine  and  rational  therapeutics.  From  Hol- 
land came  the  first  optical  instruments,  the  best  mathema- 
ticians, the  most  intelligent  philosophers,  as  well  as  the 
boldest  and  most  original  thinkers.  Amsterdam  and  Rot- 
terdam held  the  printing  presses  of  Europe  in  the  early  days 
of  the  republic;  the  Elzevirs  were  the  first  publishers  of 
cheap  editions,  and  thereby  aided  in  disseminating  the  new 
learning.  From  Holland  came  the  new  agriculture,  which 
has  done  so  much  for  social  life,  horticulture  and  floricult- 
ure. The  Dutch  taught  modern  Europe  navigation.  They 
were  the  first  to  explore  the  unknown  seas,  and  many  an 
island  and  cape  which  their  captains  discovered  has  been 
renamed  after  some  one  who  got  his  knowledge  by  their 
research,  and  appropriated  the  fruit  of  his  predecessor's 
labors.  They  have  been  as  much  plundered  in  the  world 
of  letters  as  they  have  been  in  commerce  and  politics.  Hol- 
land taught  the  Western  nations  finance — perhaps  no  great 
boon.  But  they  also  taught  commercial  honor,  the  last  and 
hardest  lesson  which  nations  learn.  They  inculcated  free 
trade,  a  lesson  nearly  as  hard  to  learn,  if  not  harder,  since 


390  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

the  conspiracy  against  private  right  is  watchful,  incessant, 
and,  as  some  would  make  us  believe,  respectable.  They 
raised  a  constant  and  for  a  long  time  ineffectual  protest 
against  the  barbarous  custom  of  privateering,  and  the 
dangerous  doctrine  of  contraband  of  war,  a  doctrine 
which,  if  carried  out  logically,  would  allow  belligerents 
to  interdict  the  trade  of  the  world.  The  Dutch  are  the 
real  founders  of  what  people  call  international  law,  or  the 
rights  of  nations.  They  made  mistakes,  but  they  made 
fewer  than  their  neighbors  made.  The  benefits  which  they 
conferred  were  incomparably  greater  than  the  errors  they 
committed.  There  is  nothing  more  striking  than  the  fact 
that,  after  a  brief  and  discreditable  episode,  the  states  were 
an  asylum  for  the  persecuted.  The  Jews,  who  were  con- 
temned because  they  were  thrifty,  plundered  because  they 
were  rich,  and  harassed  because  they  clung  tenaciously  to 
their  ancient  faith  and  customs,  found  an  asylum  in  Hol- 
land ;  and  some  of  them  perhaps,  after  they  originated  and 
adopted,  with  the  pliability  of  their  race,  a  Teutonic  alias, 
have  not  been  sufficiently  grateful  to  the  country  which 
sheltered  them.  The  Jansenists,  expelled  from  France, 
found  a  refuge  in  Utrecht,  and  more  than  a  refuge,  a 
recognition,  when  recognition  was  a  dangerous  offence. 
"There  is  no  nation  in  Europe,"  continues  the  pro- 
fessor, "which  owes  more  to  Holland  than  Great  Britain 
does.  The  English  were  for  a  long  time,  in  the  industrial 
history  of  modern  civilization,  the  stupidest  and  most  back- 
ward nation  in  Europe.  There  was,  to  be  sure,  a  great  age 
hi  England  during  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  and  that  of  the 
first  Stuart  king.  But  it  was  brief  indeed.  In  every  other 
department  of  art,  of  agriculture,  of  trade,  we  learned  our 
lesson  from  the  Hollanders.  I  doubt  whether  any  other 
small  European  race,  after  passing  through  the  trials  which 
it  endured  after  the  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  to  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  continental  war,  ever  had  so  entire  a  recovery. 
The  chain  of  its  history,  to  be  sure,  was  broken,  and  can 
never,  in  the  nature  of  things,  be  welded  together. 


SUPPLEMENTARY   CHAPTER  39! 

there  is  still  left  to  Holland  the  boast  and  the  reality  of 
her  motto,  'Luctor  et  emergo.'  ' 

The  events  of  Holland's  history  since  the  Catholic  con- 
cessions can  be  briefly  told.  In  1863  slavery  was  abolished 
in  the  Dutch  West  Indies,  the  owners  being  compensated; 
and  forty-two  thousand  slaves  were  set  free,  chiefly  in 
Dutch  Guiana.  In  the  same  year  the  navigation  of  the 
Scheldt  was  freed,  by  purchase  from  Holland  by  the  Euro- 
pean powers,  of  the  right  to  levy  tolls.  In  1867,  Louis  Na- 
poleon raised  the  question  of  Luxemburg  by  negotiating  to 
buy  the  grand  duchy  from  Holland;  but  Prussia  objected 
to  the  scheme,  and  the  matter  was  finally  settled  by  a  Con- 
ference in  London;  the  Prussian  garrison  evacuating  the 
fortifications,  which  were  then  dismantled,  and  Luxem- 
burg was  declared  neutral  territory.  Capital  punishment 
was  abolished  in  1869;  and  on  the  15th  of  July  of  the 
same  year  the  Amsterdam  National  Exposition  was  opened 
by  Prince  Henry.  In  1870,  at  the  outbreak  of  war  between 
Germany  and  France,  the  neutrality  of  Holland  as  to  both 
belligerents  was  secured  by  the  other  Powers.  In  1871  the 
Hollanders  ceded  Dutch  Guinea  to  England,  and  in  1876 
the  canal  between  Amsterdam  and  the  North  Sea,  which 
had  been  begun  in  1865,  was  completed,  and  the  passage 
through  it  was  accomplished  by  a  monitor.  Another  Expo- 
sition was  opened  in  1883,  and  in  the  same  year  the  consti- 
tution underwent  a  further  revision.  On  the  24th  of  June, 
1884,  the  Prince  of  Orange,  heir-apparent  to  the  throne, 
died,  and  the  succession  thus  devolved  upon  the  princess 
Wilhelmina,  then  a  child  of  four  years.  William  III.  him- 
self died  in  1890,  and  Queen  Emma  thereupon  assumed  the 
regency,  which  she  was  to  hold  until  Wilhelmina  came  of 
age  in  1898;  an  agreeable  consummation  which  we  have 
just  witnessed. 

A  word  may  here  be  said  concerning  the  physical  and 
political  constitution  of  the  present  kingdom  of  Holland. 
The  country  is  divided  into  eleven  provinces — North  and 
South  Holland,  Zealand,  North  Brabant,  Utrecht,  Lim- 


392  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

burg,  Gelderland,  Overyssel,  Drenthe,  Groningen,  and 
Friesland.  There  are  three  large  rivers — the  Rhine,  the 
Meuse,  and  the  Scheldt.  The  inhabitants  are  Low  Ger- 
mans (Dutch),  Frankish,  Saxon,  Frisian,  and  Jews,  the 
latter  numbering  some  sixty  thousand,  though  their  influ- 
ence is,  owing  to  their  wealth  and  activity,  larger  than 
these  figures  would  normally  represent.  The  leading  re- 
ligion of  the  country  is  Lutheran ;  but  there  are  also  many 
Catholics  and  persons  of  other  faiths,  all  of  whom  are  per- 
mitted the  free  enjoyment  of  their  creeds.  Holland  was  at 
one  time  second  to  no  country  in  the  extent  of  its  colonies ; 
and  it  still  owns  Java,  the  Moluccas,  part  of  Borneo,  New 
Guinea,  Sumatra  and  Celebes,  in  the  East;  and  in  the 
West,  Dutch  Guiana  and  Curacoa.  In  Roman  times  the 
Low  Countries  were  inhabited  by  various  peoples,  chiefly 
of  Germanic  origin;  and  in  the  Middle  Ages  were  divided 
into  several  duchies  and  counties — such  as  Brabant,  Flan- 
ders, Gelderland,  Holland,  Zealand,  etc.  The  present  gov- 
ernment is  a  hereditary  monarchy,  consisting  of  a  king  or 
queen  and  states-general;  the  upper  chamber  of  fifty  mem- 
bers, the  lower  of  one  hundred.  It  is  essentially  a  country 
of  large  towns,  of  five  thousand  inhabitants  and  upward. 
The  Frisians  are  in  North  Holland,  separated  by  the  river 
Meuse  from  the  Franks;  the  Saxons  extend  to  the  Utrecht 
Veldt.  The  Semitic  race  is  represented  by  the  Portuguese 
Jews;  and  there  is  an  admixture  of  other  nationalities.  In 
no  part  of  the  country  do  the  Dutch  present  a  marked 
physical  type,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  they  are  sharply 
differenced,  in  various  localities,  by  their  laws,  their  cus- 
toms, and  particularly  by  their  dialects;  indeed  the  Frisians 
have  a  distinct  language  of  their  own. 

The  constitution  of  1815,  though  more  than  once  revised, 
remains  practically  much  the  same  as  at  first.  The  son  of 
the  monarch,  the  heir-apparent,  is  called  the  Prince  of 
Orange.  The  administration  of  the  Provinces  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  provincial  states;  these  meet  but  a  few  times 
in  the  year.  The  Communes  have  their  communal  coun- 


SUPPLEMENTARY   CHAPTER  393 

cils,  under  the  control  of  the  burgomasters.     There  is  a  high 
court  of  justice,  and  numerous  minor  courts. 

The  population  is  divided  between  about  two  million  two 
hundred  thousand  Protestants,  and  half  as  many  Roman 
Catholics,  together  with  others.  There  are  four  thousand 
schools,  with  six  hundred  thousand  pupils,  and  about  four- 
teen thousand  teachers.  Not  more  than  ten  per  cent  of  the 
people  are  illiterate,  and  the  women  are  as  carefully  edu- 
cated as  the  men.  There  are  four  great  universities :  Ley- 
den,  founded  in  1575;  Utrecht,  founded  hi  1636;  Groningen, 
in  1614;  and  Amsterdam,  which  has  existed  since  1877. 
These  seats  of  learning  give  instruction  to  from  three  hun- 
dred to  seven  hundred  students  each.  The  total  expenses  of 
the  universities  average  about  six  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
There  are  also  in  Holland  excellent  institutions  of  art,  sci- 
ence, and  industry. 

Agriculture  is  generally  pursued,  but  without  the  ex- 
treme science  and  economy  shown  in  Belgium.  The  cul- 
tivation and  produce  vary,  in  part,  according  as  the  soil  is 
sand  or  clay;  but  the  same  kind  of  soil,  in  different  parts 
of  the  country,  produces  different  results.  Cattle  are  largely 
raised  and  are  of  first-rate  quality ;  Friesland  produces  the 
best,  but  there  are  also  excellent  stocks  in  North  Holland  and 
South  Holland.  In  Drenthe,  owing  to  the  extensive  pastur- 
age, great  numbers  of  sheep  are  raised.  But  perhaps  the 
most  important  industry  of  Holland  is  the  fisheries,  both 
those  of  the  deep  sea,  and  those  carried  on  in  the  great 
Zuyder  Zee,  which  occupies  a  vast  area  within  the  bounda- 
ries of  the  country.  These  fisheries,  however,  are  not  in  all 
years  successful,  owing  to  the  ungovernable  vagaries  of 
ocean  currents,  and  other  causes. 

Holland  has  taken  a  prominent  part  in  European  thought 
since  about  1830.  The  Dutch  language,  instead  of  yielding 
to  the  domination  of  the  German,  has  been  cultivated  and 
enriched.  The  writers  who  have  achieved  distinction  could 
hardly  even  be  named  in  the  space  here  available,  and  any 
approach  to  a  critical  estimate  of  them  would  require  vol- 


894  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

umes.  One  of  the  earlier  but  best-known  names  is  that  of 
Jacobus  Van  Lennep,  who  is  regarded  as  the  leader  of  the 
Dutch  Romantic  school.  He  was  born  in  Amsterdam  on 
the  24th  of  March,  1802,  and  died  at  Oosterbeek,  near  Arn- 
heim,  August  25,  1868.  His  father,  David,  was  a  profes- 
sor and  a  poet;  Jacobus  studied  jurisprudence  at  Leyden, 
and  afterward  practiced  law  at  Amsterdam.  For  a  while 
he  took  some  part  in  politics  as  a  member  of  the  second 
chamber;  but  his  heart  was  bent  on  the  pursuit  of  litera- 
ture, and  he  gradually  abandoned  all  else  for  that.  His 
first  volume  of  poems  was  published  when  he  was  but  four- 
and-twenty;  and  he  was  the  author  of  several  dramas.  But 
his  strongest  predilections  were  for  romantic  novel- writing ; 
and  his  works  in  this  direction  show  signs  of  the  influence  of 
"Walter  Scott,  who  dominated  the  romantic  field  in  the  first 
half  of  this  century,  and  was  known  in  Holland  as  well  as 
throughout  the  rest  of  Europe.  "The  Foster  Son"  was 
published  in  1829;  the  "Rose  of  Dekama"  in  1836;  "The 
Adventures  of  Glaus  Sevenstars"  in  1865.  His  complete 
works,  in  prose  and  poetry,  fill  six-and-thirty  volumes.  A 
younger  contemporary  of  Van  Lennep  was  Nikolas  Beets, 
born  at  Haarlem  in  1814;  he  also  was  both  poet  and  prose 
writer,  and  his  "Camara  Obscura,"  published  in  1839,  is 
accounted  a  masterpiece  of  character  and  humor,  though 
it  was  composed  when  the  author  was  barely  twenty-four 
years  of  age.  Van  den  Brink  was  a  leading  critic  of  the 
Romanticists;  Hasebrock,  author  of  a  volume  of  essays 
called  "Truth  and  Dream,"  has  been  likened  to  the  En- 
glish Charles  Lamb.  Vosmaer  is  another  eminent  figure  in 
Dutch  literature;  he  wrote  a  "Life  of  Rembrandt"  which 
is  a  masterpiece  of  biography.  Kuenen,  who  died  but  ten 
years  ago,  was  a  biblical  critic  of  European  celebrity.  But 
the  list  of  contemporary  Dutch  writers  is  long  and  brilliant, 
and  the  time  to  speak  critically  of  them  must  be  postponed. 
Nothing  impresses  the  visitor  to  Holland  more  than  the 
vast  dikes  or  dams  which  restrain  the  sea  from  overwhelm- 
ing the  country.  They  have  to  be  constantly  watched  and 


SUPPLEMENTARY   CHAPTER  395 

renewed,  and  to  those  unused  to  the  idea  of  dwelling  in  the 
presence  of  such  constant  peril,  the  phlegm  of  the  Holland- 
ers is  remarkable.  M.  Havard,  who  has  made  a  careful 
study  of  the  country  and  its  people,  and  who  writes  of 
them  in  a  lively  style,  has  left  excellent  descriptions  of 
these  unique  works.  "We  know,"  he  says,  "what  the 
Zealand  soil  is — how  uncertain,  changing,  and  mutable; 
nevertheless,  a  construction  is  placed  upon  it,  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  yards  long,  sixteen  yards  wide  at  the 
entrance,  and  more  than  seven  and  a  half  yards  deep  be- 
low high  water.  Add  to  this,  that  the  enormous  basin  (one 
thousand  nine  hundred  square  yards)  is  enclosed  within 
granite  walls  of  extraordinary  thickness,  formed  of  solid 
blocks  of  stone  of  tremendous  weight.  To  what  depth 
must  the  daring  workmen  who  undertook  the  Cyclopean 
task  have  gone  in  search  of  a  stable  standpoint,  on  which 
to  lay  the  foundation  of  such  a  mass!  In  what  subterra- 
nean layer  could  they  have  had  such  confidence,  in  this 
country  where  the  earth  sinks  in,  all  of  a  sudden,  where 
islands  disappear  without  leaving  a  trace — that  they  vent- 
ured to  build  upon  it  so  mighty  an  edifice!  And  observe 
that  not  only  one  dam  is  thus  built ;  in  the  two  islands  of 
Zuid  Beveland  and  Walcheren  a  dozen  have  been  con- 
structed. There  are  two  at  Wormeldingen.  In  the  pres- 
ence of  these  achievements,  of  problems  faced  with  such 
courage  and  solved  with  such  success,  one  is  almost 
bewildered." 

Elsewhere,  in  speaking  of  Kampveer,  one  of  the  towns 
which  suffered  an  inundation,  he  says,  "Poor  little  port! 
once  so  famous,  lively,  populous,  and  noisy,  and  now  so 
solitary  and  still!  Traces  of  its  former  military  and  mer- 
cantile character  are  yet  to  be  seen.  On  the  left  stands  a 
majestic  building  with  thick  walls  and  few  apertures,  ter- 
minating on  the  sea  in  a  crenellated  round  tower ;  and  these 
elegant  houses,  with  their  arched  and  trefoiled  windows, 
and  their  decorated  gables,  on  the  right,  once  formed  the 
ancient  Scotschhuis.  Every  detail  of  the  building  recalls 


396  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

the  great  trade  in  wool  done  by  the  city  at  that  period. 
Far  off,  at  the  entrance  of  the  port,  stands  a  tower,  the 
last  remnant  of  the  ramparts,  formerly  a  fortification;  it 
is  now  a  tavern.  In  vain  do  we  look  for  the  companion 
tower;  it  has  disappeared  with  the  earth  on  which  its  foun- 
dations stood  deep  and  strong  for  ages.  If,  from  the  sum- 
mit of  the  surviving  tower,  you  search  for  that  mysterious 
town  upon  the  opposite  bank,  you  will  look  for  it  in  vain 
where  it  formerly  stood  and  mirrored  its  houses  and  steeples 
in  the  limpid  waters.  Kampen  also  has  been  swallowed  up 
forever,  leaving  no  trace  that  it  ever  existed  in  this  world. 
The  land  that  stretches  out  before  us  is  all  affected  by  that 
subtle,  cancerous  disease,  the  val,  whose  ravages  are  so  ter- 
rible. Two  centuries  ago  this  great  bay  was  so  filled  up 
with  sand  that  it  was  expected  the  two  islands  would  in  a 
short  time  be  reunited  and  thenceforth  form  but  one.  Then, 
on  a  sudden,  the  gulf  yawned  anew.  That  huge  rent,  the 
Veer  Gat,  opened  once  again,  more  deeply  than  before; 
whole  towns  were  buried,  and  their  inhabitants  drowned. 
Then  the  water  retired,  the  earth  rose,  shaking  off  its  humid 
winding  sheet,  and  the  old  task  was  resumed;  man  began 
once  more  to  dispute  the  soil  with  the  invading  waves.  A 
portion  of  the  land,  which  seemed  to  have  been  forever  lost, 
was  regained;  but  at  the  cost  of  what  determined  strife, 
after  how  many  battles,  with  what  dire  alternations! 
Within  a  century,  three  entire  polders  on  the  north  coast 
of  Noordbeveland  have  again  vanished,  and  in  the  place 
where  they  were  there  flows  a  stream  forty  yards  deep. 
In  1873,  the  polder  of  Borselen,  thirty-one  acres  in  extent, 
sank  into  the  waters.  Each  year  the  terrible  val  devours 
some  space  or  other,  carrying  away  the  land  in  strips.  The 
Sophia  polder  is  now  attacked  by  the  val.  Every  possible 
means  is  being  employed  for  its  defence;  no  sacrifice  is 
spared.  The  game  is  almost  up;  already  one  dike  has 
been  swallowed,  and  a  portion  of  the  conquered  ground 
has  had  to  be  abandoned.  The  dams  are  being  strength- 
ened in  the  rear,  while  every  effort  is  being  made  to  fix 


SUPPLEMENTARY    CHAPTER  397 

the  soil  so  as  to  prevent  the  slipping  away  of  the  reclaimed 
land.  To  effect  this,  not  only  are  the  dams  reinforced  and 
complicated  by  an  inextricable  network  of  stones  and  inter- 
laced tree-branches,  but  Zinkstukken  are  sunk  far  off  in 
the  sea,  which  by  squeezing  down  the  shifting  bottom  avert 
those  sudden  displacements  which  bring  about  such  disas- 
ters. The  Zinkstukken — enormous  constructions  in  wicker 
work — are  square  rafts,  made  of  reeds  and  boughs  twisted 
together,  sometimes  two  or  three  hundred  feet  long  on  a 
side.  They  are  made  on  the  edge  of  the  coast  and  pushed 
into  the  sea;  and  no  sooner  is  one  afloat  than  it  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  crowd  of  barges  and  boats,  big  and  little, 
laden  with  stones  and  clods  of  earth.  The  boats  are  then 
attached  to  the  Zinkstuk,  and  this  combined  flotilla  is  so 
disposed  along  shore  that  the  current  carries  it  to  the  place 
where  the  Zinkstuk  is  to  be  sunk.  "When  the  current  begins 
to  make  itself  felt,  the  raft  is  loaded  by  the  simple  process 
of  heaping  the  contents  of  the  barges  upon  the  middle  of  it. 
The  men  form  in  line  from  the  four  corners  to  the  centre, 
and  the  loads  of  stone  and  earth  are  passed  on  to  the  centre 
of  the  raft,  on  which  they  are  flung ;  then  the  middle  of  the 
Zinkstuk  begins  to  sink  gently,  and  to  disappear  under  the 
water.  As  it  goes  down,  the  operators  withdraw ;  the  stones 
and  clods  are  then  flung  upon  it  from  boats.  At  this  stage 
of  the  proceedings  the  Zinkstuk  is  so  heavy  that  all  the  ves- 
sels, dragged  by  its  weight,  lean  over,  and  their  masts  bend 
above  it.  But  now  the  decisive  moment  approaches,  and 
the  foreman,  standing  on  the  poop  of  the  largest  boat,  in 
the  middle  of  the  flotilla,  on  the  side  furthest  from  the 
shore,  awaits  the  instant  when  the  Zinkstuk  shall  come 
into  precisely  the  foreordained  position.  At  that  instant 
he  utters  a  shout  and  makes  a  signal;  the  ropes  are  cut, 
the  raft  plunges  downward,  and  disappears  forever,  while 
the  boats  recover  their  proper  position." 

M.  Havard  merits  the  space  we  have  given  him;  for  he 
describes  a  work  the  like  of  which  has  never  been  seen  else- 
where in  the  world,  any  more  than  have  the  conditions 


398  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

which  necessitated  it.  But  the  picturesqueness  of  the  act- 
ual scene  can  hardly  be  conveyed  in  words.  Under  an 
azure  sky  we  behold  outstretched  a  sparkling  sea,  its  wa- 
ters shading  from  green  to  blue  and  from  yellow  to  violet, 
harmoniously  blending.  In  the  distance,  as  though  mark- 
ing the  horizon,  stretches  a  long,  green  strip  of  land,  with 
the  spires  of  the  churches  standing  out  in  strong  relief 
against  the  sky.  At  our  feet  is  the  Zinkstuk,  surrounded 
by  its  flotilla.  The  great  red  sails  furled  upon  the  masts, 
the  green  poops,  the  rudders  sheathed  with  burnished  cop- 
per, the  red  streaks  along  the  sides  of  the  boats,  the  colored 
shirts,  brown  vests,  and  blue  girdles  of  the  men,  touched  by 
the  warm  rays  of  the  sun,  compose  a  striking  picture.  On 
all  sides  the  men  are  in  motion,  and  five  hundred  brawny 
arms  are  flinging  the  contents  of  the  boats  upon  the  great 
raft;  a  truly  Titanic  stoning!  Projectiles  rain  from  all 
sides  without  pause,  until  the  moment  comes  when  the  de- 
cisive command  is  to  be  given.  Then  silence,  absolute  and 
impressive,  falls  upon  the  multitude.  Suddenly  the  signal 
is  given;  a  creaking  noise  is  heard;  the  fifty  boats  right 
themselves  at  the  same  instant,  and  turn  toward  the  point 
where  the  great  raft  which  had  separated  them  has  just 
disappeared.  They  bump  against  one  another,  they  get 
entangled,  they  group  themselves  in  numberless  different 
ways.  The  swarming  men,  stooping  and  raising  up,  the 
uplifted  arms,  the  flying  stones,  the  spurting  water  covering 
the  boats  with  foam ;  and  in  the  midst  of  the  confusion  the 
polder- jungens  flinging  the  clods  of  earth  with  giant  strength 
and  swiftness  upon  the  raft.  At  certain  points  the  tumult 
declines ;  flags  are  hoisted  from  the  tops  of  masts,  the  large 
sails  are  shaken  out,  and  aided  by  the  breeze  some  vessels 
get  loose,  sail  out,  and  desert  the  field  of  battle.  These  are 
they  whose  task  is  done,  and  which  are  empty.  They  retire 
one  by  one  upon  the  great  expanse  of  water,  which,  save  in 
one  spot,  was  a  little  while  ago  deserted,  and  is  now  over- 
spread with  the  vessels  making  their  various  ways  toward 
that  green  line  on  the  horizon. 


SUPPLEMENTAL   CHAPTER  399 

This  is  a  conflict  not  of  days,  nor  of  years,  nor  of  gen- 
erations, but  of  all  time ;  and  what  the  end  will  be  none  can 
foretell.  It  is  the  concrete  symbol  of  the  everlasting  fight 
of  man  with  nature,  which  means  civilization.  The  day 
may  come  when,  where  once  Holland  was,  will  be  out- 
spread the  serene  waters  of  the  sea,  hiding  beneath  them 
the  records  of  the  stupendous  struggle  of  so  many  centuries. 
Or,  perhaps,  some  mysterious  shifting  of  the  ocean  bottom 
may  not  only  lift  Holland  out  of  peril,  but  uncover  mighty 
tracts  of  land  which,  in  the  prehistoric  past,  belonged  t© 
Europe.  Meanwhile  it  is  easy  to  understand  that  the  people 
who  can  wage  this  ceaseless  war  for  their  homes  and  lives, 
are  the  sons  of  those  heroes  who  curbed  the  might  of 
Spain,  and  taught  the  world  the  lessons  of  freedom  and 
independence. 


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